WASHINGTON - Conservative darling Sarah Palin said Sunday that "it would be absurd" for her to rule out running for president and that she would consider a 2012 bid if she thought it would be right for America.

The former Alaska governor and one-time Republican vice presidential candidate also warned that President Barack Obama would not be reelected short of radically changing his policies, even perhaps by declaring war on Iran.

Speaking with "Fox News Sunday," Palin dismissed a poll that shows her running ahead of other potential Republican presidential nominees, but said she would consider a bid in 2012.

"I would. I would if I believed that that is the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family," she said.

"I think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country."

Palin has remained in the headlines after abruptly resigning as governor of Alaska in July 2009, giving speeches, writing opinion pieces and using her Facebook page to weigh in on the news.

This weekend she addressed the first convention of the grassroots Republican Tea Party movement, heaping scorn on Obama, and she said Sunday that the policies he has pursued had all but guaranteed he would fail to win reelection.

"He's not going to win," she said. "If he continues on the path that he has America on today."

But she said he could boost his chances by radically changing his administration's policies.

"Say he played the war card. Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decided really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do... that changes the dynamics in what we can assume is going to happen between now and three years," Palin said.

"If he decided to toughen up and do all that he can to secure our nation and our allies, I think people would perhaps shift their thinking a little bit."

The self-described "hockey mom," who found herself pilloried during the 2008 presidential campaign for her apparently sparse knowledge of world affairs, also said she was now more up-to-date on foreign and domestic issues.

"Now, of course, my focus has been enlarged. So I sure as heck better be more astute on these current events, national issues, than I was two years ago," she said.