Governor Sarah Palin

Governor Sarah Palin, September 4, 2008
Last night, the country was introduced to Alaska’s Governor Sarah Palin. The Governor’s speech at the Republican National Convention was an interesting speech that exceeded all expectations. Prior to the speech, many inside the Beltway establishment elites thought that the new Governor was not up to the task of being a Vice Presidential nominee. She is not one of them, someone whose goal in life is to be invited to the Georgetown cocktail parties and to pontificate on the Sunday morning talk shows. Since she is not one of them, they viewed her as unqualified. Over the past week, the establishment has tried to knock her down, and to have Senator McCain drop her from the ticket. The rumors about her son actually being her daughters son, the playing up of the “ethics” investigation over certain firings in Alaska, and the fact that she was just a “small town mayor.” They had this goal, since that would lead to the claim that McCain makes bad decisions. This theory was shot down last night early and often.
Following the speech, a number of different attitudes and reactions from the television commentators came across. On MSNBC, the word that kept coming up was “sarcastic”; FOXNEWS’ Howard Wolfson and CNN’s Anderson Cooper both mentioned that she was able to stick the knife in the back of Senator Obama with a smile on her face. She was able to point out the differences and weaknesses of the Obama campaign in a casual, friendly way. It was not a Pat Buchanan type convention speech.
I found it interesting that MSNBC kept using sarcastic in their evaluation of the speech. Is it sarcastic to point out the differences? Did they phrase it sarcastic when Senator Joe Biden attacked the McCain record last week? No. Why did they use this term? Was it because the establishment did not know how to react to an attractive, young, female Governor who was not afraid to point out the differences between the two campaigns and the Obama news network, aka MSNBC, did not like it? Keith Obermann and Chris Matthews, two liberal commentators who hosted the MSNBC coverage after last weeks Democratic convention basically said the election was over
A couple of lines from the speech last night caught both my attention and the media’s. One line that was released early was, “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.” This line delivered a huge roar from the crowd at the Convention and also led to coverage in the media. CNN had a commentator who spoke of his parents who are community organizers. He mentioned that this line might fire up the inner city machine type politics. From my opinion that is fine. Most people don’t really know what these organizers do. What is the job? What are the responsibilities? What are the accomplishments? Most people in America live in small towns, not big cities. From my background, small towns don’t have many community organizers, rather active citizens. Being active in your local government or community typically is not a job description. Every day that the Obama campaign has to discuss what he did as a community organizer, is another day where the American people will see that he is not qualified to be President. I wish that Governor Palin would have spoken a little bit more about what she has done as both a mayor and Governor. If she had pointed out specific accomplishments during both jobs, it would have been an even stronger point.
Another line that I think really truck a cord with the audience and the American public was, “But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.” This line stresses that Governor Palin is different from the Obama campaign and typical Washington insiders. She is not interested in appealing to the Georgetown crowd, but rather to small town America and those living outside the Beltway. She is not interested in cocktail parties, but rather serving the American public. She is not interested in becoming an entrenched DC power source, but rather someone who comes in and gets the job done.
A final line that really was a hit was, “But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.” This line points out two big issues that the McCain team has been trying to highlight – Senator Obama’s celebrity and his lack of experience. Much has been made of Governor Palin’s lack of Washington experience and the line turns the questions directly back on Senator Obama. If he is such a change leader in Washington, how come he has authored no legislation? If he is the leader of the Democratic Party, and has no legislative experience, how is he going to lead this country? The fact that he has written two memoirs shows that he is a media celebrity. The fact that the American public is willing to purchase these books, show that he is an interesting character. However, does this mean that he is ready to be President? The speech by Sarah Palin was an important speech. A lot was made that she was not ready for prime time since she was just a first term governor from Alaska. However, with her introductory speech last week in Dayton and her speech last night in Minnesota, Governor Sarah Palin has shown that she is not a light weight. She relishes the upcoming campaign and has the ability to activate the base of the Republican Party and make in roads with independents and women. She has changed the tenor of the campaign and given the McCain campaign a huge lift. Now it is up to Senator McCain to deliver tonight in his acceptance speech and for the campaign to schedule her in swing states across the country. As MSNBC now proclaims, “A GOP Star is Born.”
The Democrats and the Obama campaign probably are not real excited about the upcoming two months. In what they thought was going to be an easy campaign with the help of the media establishment, now is going to be a tough fight between the two campaings. Senator Obama is no longer the "rock star" of this campaign. Governor Palin has taken a lot of the wind out of the sails of the Democrats and given a lot of hope to the McCain campaign and other Republicans.