ST. PAUL, Minn. – Last night, the question about Sarah Palin wasn’t if she’s risen too fast, but where she’s been for so long.
She may have given the best speech of either political convention. She delivered a brilliantly written text flawlessly. Politicians who’ve been on the national stage for decades could do no better, and usually do worse.
It is widely remarked that Joe Biden is an ideal No. 2 on a national ticket because he’s a “happy warrior.” Maybe. But Sarah Palin is a pretty, charismatic, winsome warrior, with a to-die-for smile, radiant upswept hair – and a steely toughness.
Sarah Barracuda, indeed.
Newsrooms across America must be in abject despair. The unlikely VP nominee the media hoped to crush out of the gate is unaffected by their condescension and scorn – and is bent on giving better than she takes.
Miss Congeniality isn’t afraid to administer an old-fashioned beat-down. Annie Oakley brought a gun to a knife fight and made like the Obama-Biden ticket was a moose lazily meandering into her gun sights.
She started with an introduction of her family that is so all-American it could have been crafted by a political consultant – if it weren’t so real, as demonstrated by 17-year-old Bristol’s pregnancy.
Palin quickly established her credibility as a genuine representative of small-town America in a way few politicians can – and then used it to wheel on Barack Obama as a gasbag and a fraud in a witheringly sarcastic assault.
In her introduction, she said the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom is “lipstick.” It wasn’t just a cute line. She immediately began to prove it, starting with her killer line that being mayor of a small town is just like being a community organizer – except you have actual responsibilities.
She was merciless on Obama’s elitism, scoring him for saying one thing about working-class voters in Scranton and another in San Francisco. By the end, you began to feel sorry for him for having been so thoroughly eviscerated by a woman and to wonder – how are Obama and Biden possibly going to handle her?
Palin was obviously comfortable laying body checks on Obama. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it.
Throughout, she never lost that ineffable quality that is literally priceless – her likability.
There’s no substitute in politics for being liked, and it’s not something that can be faked or synthesized. Together with her poise, it could – assuming no terrible gaffes or revelations in the days ahead – make her a national force for years to come.
On substance, she spent the most time in her comfort zone, talking about energy and casting it in terms of national security. Her challenge, of course, will be proving that she can be as fluid and confident in nonscripted interviews. But after last night, can anyone bet against her with the same confidence?
Already, it’s possible to see the new orientation she could bring to the Republican Party – fresher, with more of a blue-collar sensibility and more feeling.
Citing Trig, her son with Down syndrome, she said that, with her in the White House, parents with children with special needs will have a friend and advocate – and got applause from the crowd.
John McCain may have found himself the ideal wingman. And she’s a hockey mom named Sarah.
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