David

Karki

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September 8, 2008

Sarah Palin: In One Night, A Star is Born

If Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention had been a heavyweight boxing match, the referee would have had to step in and stop the fight in the early rounds. Sen. Barack Obama was first systematically taken apart by Rudy Giuliani, in a speech that ridiculed his thin résumé, far-left track record and lack of substance shown thus far in the campaign. One could almost hear the late Howard Cosell's famous call from the Frazier/Foreman bout: “Down Goes Obama! Down Goes Obama! Down Goes Obama!”

Then, after the delegates swallowed all that red meat (or, as Charles Krauthammer humorously put it, “slaughtered a small cow”), Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took the stage. And history commenced unfolding before our eyes and ears in Saint Paul. In the space of about a half-hour, Palin delivered a speech that will long be remembered as the day a new political star was born, when for the first time the putative title of “America's first female president” was lifted from Hillary Clinton's shoulders and placed elsewhere. (Much to the former's chagrin, I'm sure.)

While posterity must be the ultimate judge, this speech seems destined to be placed alongside Ronald Reagan's “A Time for Choosing” speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater in 1964 in the pantheon of those which launched political careers and thus the course of our nation's path through history.

In fact, given the high stakes involved as the first woman on a presidential ticket and the intense pressure on Palin – from the vicious cheap shots aimed at her family by the angry left netroots to the drive-by media just waiting to pounce on any tiny waver as proof of her unfitness for office and thus justification for destroying her – I might rank it higher. About the only comparable address might be Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearings, where his stupendous extemporaneous remarks of outrage over being unfairly smeared won the day, his lifetime seat on the bench, and forever added the phrase “high-tech lynching” to the lexicon.

Palin was smooth, polished, and, as demonstrated by not missing a beat when the teleprompter scrolled well ahead of her, unflappable. She connected with the audience and spoke across to them rather than down at them, as genuine as it gets. And she stuck the rhetorical knife into Obama with an almost effortless efficiency, using humor to deliver legitimate verbal jabs, a veritable iron fist clad in a velvet glove.

But more than that, this was the first time in ages that a Republican candidate was unabashedly and unashamedly conservative. For the last several years, the GOP has been the living embodiment of P.J. O'Rourke's line that their motto should be “we're just like the Democrats, only not quite as much.” From President Bush's “compassionate conservative” drivel to the initial nomination of Sen. John McCain, the grassroots had all but given up on the Republican Party as a vessel for conservatism and effective, full-throated opposition to all the Democrats stand for.

In one night and in one speech, Palin placed the defibrillator paddles on a nearly dead GOP and shocked it back to life. The lagging Republican “brand” was re-branded as it used to be branded – as a party of principles, unafraid to speak of and proud to fight for them. No more will conservatives be timid as the other side preens and struts in its assumption of moral authority. And ironically, we had to find a woman in order to get our testicles back.

Even more ironic is that we have McCain to thank for it. The same McCain who, it seemed, couldn't relish more sticking it to conservatives in order to gain praise from the liberal media. Perhaps he woke up to what they're really all about, now that he is the rightmost rather than the leftmost option and they're targeting him for the first time. Perhaps he saw that he needed to shore up that base in order to win, and the opportunity to do so with a woman that would lure disaffected Hillary supporters gave him an irresistible two-for-one chance.

Or perhaps he was simply that impressed with Palin and thought her best for the job amongst the available candidates. Based on what we all saw Wednesday night, it seems likely enough to me. Whatever the reason, even if it wasn't necessarily the best reason, McCain has chosen a running mate who will revive what was dormant – and has already begun doing so, even in just these few days.

Who ever would have thought that a wife and mother of five from Wasilla, Alaska would play such a prominent role in making our country's history? It is precisely the possibility of such an ordinary person from such an out-of-the-way place to achieve such extraordinary things which makes America a special place. That spirit is personified in Gov. Palin, and the performance she gave last Wednesday night.

And come this January, Mrs. Palin Goes to Washington.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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