Sarah Palin: I Want to Play a Major Role in National Politics, 'If People Will Have Me'

Nov. 16, 2009— -- Sarah Palin may be mum about her presidential ambitions, but the former GOP vice presidential candidate is opening up about her campaign experiences and has some harsh words for President Obama.

In an interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters, Palin, whose book, "Going Rogue: An American Life," lands on bookshelves Tuesday, said she would give the president a mere four for his job performance on a scale of one to 10.

"There are a lot of decisions being made that I -- and probably the majority of Americans -- are not impressed with right now," said Palin, the former governor of Alaska. "I think our economy is not being put on the right track, because we're strayed too far from, fundamentally, from free enterprise principles that built our country. And I question, too, some of the dithering, and, hesitation, with some of our national security questions that have got to be answered for our country."

Even after last year's devastating defeat, Palin remains one of the Republican Party's brightest stars. From Alaska, she has been weighing in on issues and influencing policy debate in Washington. She scored a major blow to Obama in August when she wrote on her Facebook page that under Obama's plans, the fate of the elderly and her son Trigg, who has Down syndrome, would be determined by "death panels."

Watch Barbara Walters' interview with Sarah Palin starting Tuesday on "Good Morning America", "World News" and "Nightline", more Wednesday on "Good Morning America," and on "20/20" Friday, Nov. 20 at 10 p.m. ET.

In his address to the joint session of Congress, the president lashed out at the charge, made by Palin and others, calling it "a lie, plain and simple."

When asked by Walters if it was Obama who was lying, Palin said: "He is not lying, in that those two words will not be found in any of those thousands of pages of different variations of the health care bill. No, death panel isn't there. But he's incorrect, and he is disingenuous."

Sarah Palin discusses her family with Barbara Walters. Read more here.

As for Obama's surprise Nobel Peace Prize win, Palin dubbed the decision of the Nobel committee "premature."

"Maybe someday there will be some deserved event, and issues that he tackles that will allow that presentation of Nobel Peace Prize, and I'll be the first to applaud that," she told Walters. "Two weeks into office and he's already nominated? That's premature."

Palin has also become a vocal supporter of the tea party movement, calling it "beautiful." This group of protestors, however, is staunchly against the bailout package, which Palin and McCain both supported in their campaign.

"Yep. That very first bailout, yes. Now we have learned, too, it didn't fulfill the promises that were made by Congress, and by the White House, that bailing out these businesses that were 'too big to fail,'" Palin said. "That did not put our economy back on the right track. So we learn from our mistakes. The tea party movement, beautiful. It energizes our country. More power to these people who are showing up there."

Sarah Palin weighs in on policy in the Middle East, U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. Read more here.