Sarah Palin is as popular as Diana in the hearts of the American public

Unbelievable; a very positive article on Sarah Palin from Amanda Platell at the (UK) Mail Online.

Moreover, while Obama appears to have been on a lifelong search for his identity, Palin has never wondered who she was or where she was from.

Whether you share her values or not, the moral certainties of this evangelical smalltown conservative are core to her appeal.

As she reminded us in the acceptance speech that gave McCain an 11-point poll boost: 'We grow good people in our small towns with honesty, sincerity and dignity.'

And while the East Coast intellectuals may sneer at her homespun ideology and lack of experience, these are the very credentials that are attracting an increasing number of middle Americans.

In Palin they see optimism; in Obama cynicism. In Palin they see pride in her country; in Obama an element of shame.


It is heart versus head, instinct versus intellect; certainty versus hand-wringing; straight-forwardness versus sophistication.
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So how did she get there? In some ways, it's because she is anti-politics. Alaska may be only a small state, but with an approval rating of 76 per cent, Palin is the most popular governor in the U.S. And she's done it by breaking the mould.

She has stood up for ordinary people and taken on the Washington establishment.


Her first acts in office were to place the governor's jet for sale on eBay and sack the cook. Her record in taking on her own party is every bit as forthright and pragmatic, according to those who have watched her closely in Alaska.


Shaken: Obama has been forced to eat his words after a veiled swipe at Palin involving 'lipstick on a pig'


'When most politicians talk of tackling corruption or inefficiency in their own party, it is usually just that - all talk,' says one analyst. 'She's full frontal, she takes no prisoners and has made enemies as a result.'

So when she says, as she did in her acceptance speech, that she will take on 'the good old-boy network', she really means it.

As one senior McCain spokesman explained: 'She is the embodiment of the American dream, the small-town girl who rises to the very top, doesn't sacrifice her family or her values along the way, takes on the big guys and wins.

'The thing about Palin is that every aspect of her story touches someone.'

Even her anti-abortion stance has failed to provoke as much controversy as it might, not least because she knows from bitter experience the tough choices that women face in the real world.

Her belief in the sanctity of life prevented her from aborting her unborn baby when it was diagnosed with Down's syndrome.

But it took three days for her to tell her husband because she wasn't certain 'in my own heart if I was going to be ready to embrace a child with special needs'.

It's that kind of language that's cut-ting across political divides, especially at a time when 10 to 20 per cent of American children are diagnosed as having 'special needs' - the vast majority of them black children in inner cities whose parents might otherwise never have considered voting Republican.

After a rally in swing-state Virginia, one very young mother with a baby draped over her shoulder said of Palin: 'I'm happy to see a woman, I'm happy to see a mother and I'm happy to see someone who shares my values.'


It's that simple.