Palin for President!

I think Sarah Palin is the most under-rated political figure in America today. No, I’m serious. She was chosen as McCain’s VP and gave an acceptance speech at the Republican Convention that still resonates: “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.” Can anyone come up with a line from McCain’s acceptance speech?

What followed was a political crime, with members of McCain’s team sabotaging her in a number of ways, including allowing her to be interviewed by MSM figures that hated her and were allowed to edit the interview with the result that even today many people think that Palin has not read a book. Isn’t that one of the reasons so many conservatives doubt her abilities or are on the fence? You are allowing Katie Couric – of all people – to influence your judgment!

He decision to resign as Governor of Alaska was supposed to end her political career. All the “smart” people, like George Will, agreed on this.  How’s that prediction working out for you? In what was one of the boldest and smartest moves made by any rookie politician she gave herself the tools to amass a personal fortune and the ability to become a figure on the national stage.  Anyone who’s stuck in Alaska simply can’t do that for logistical reasons.

And how about this “dumb broad” using Facebook as a way of bypassing the MSM? No other political figure has used the new media quite this way and this effectively.  Reagan’s success was built partly on his ability to speak directly to the American people, avoiding the gatekeepers in the media. He also had the ability to project the fact that he had so much in common with the average American; he was “real people” even though he had spent most of his life in Hollywood. Well, as the Gipper would say, Sarah Palin is the real deal. Didn’t graduate from Yale or Harvard, worked for a living at jobs to which ordinary people can relate, has a real family with all its quirks (sort of like the Reagan kids), has a good looking husband who has a job that – to repeat – to which real people can relate.

Palin is, from the very beginning, an unlikely elected leader. Conventional wisdom says you don’t rise in politics by bringing down your party’s leaders. She became governor of Alaska by bucking the corruption in her own party. Even now she is being dissed by the king-makers in the Republican establishment. I have read some comments by bloggers who wrote that they don’t want to be governed by people like themselves; they want to be governed by their betters. They’re finding out the hard way that their “betters” are simply better credentialed, not wiser. The fact is that most people like to vote for people just like themselves. In the last presidential election they voted for a blank slate that to this day is largely unknown. The next election will be for someone we know intimately. No more voting for ephemeral “HopeN’Change.” It’s time to elect someone who is firmly grounded. Sarah Palin.