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'Stunning' ... Sarah Palin Gives Her Speech
A WEEK ago nobody had ever heard of her.
Today she is the most talked-about woman in the world. And
with good reason.
Sarah Palin's sensational performance at the Republican
Party Convention may turn out to be the tipping point of
this rollercoaster American election.
Obama fans hoping she would fluff her big night were in for
a nasty shock.
This speech has turned the election upside down. It was
simply stunning.
Democrats and their Lefty media backers had been sneering
that she was a small town nobody, a hick from the Alaskan
sticks put into a job way beyond an inexperienced woman.
Believe me, you will not be hearing that again.
Palin turned out to be an electrifying mix of intelligence,
passion, energy, optimism and plain speaking.
Full of self-assurance and aggression, she popped Barack's
balloon big-time.
From the moment she walked on stage in this cavernous bear
pit, bandbox smart in cream jacket, trim black skirt and
black heels, she proved that John McCain knew exactly what
he was doing when he picked her as running mate.
Hair piled into a slight beehive – more Sarah White House
than Amy Winehouse – she blinked and smiled behind her geeky
spectacles as the vast crowd went ballistic.
For an unpopular party divided over Iraq and struggling to
compete with Obama's Messianic glamour, the choice of Palin
looks absolutely inspired.
Main Street America will have loved her performance.
And it was seen by 30million voters – the greatest number
ever to watch a candidate for the much-derided VP post.
She is popular with voters for the very reason America's
snooty political establishment despises her: She isn't one
of the Washington gang.
She's a moose-hunting mum of five with a sledge-load of
problems behind her own front door that workaday Americans
can relate to.
A child with special needs. A daughter of 17 pregnant. A
constant juggle between family and career.
As she said, her family has had its ups and downs like any
other.
Last night her first task was to introduce herself and her
family to an American public incredulous that the unknown
Alaska governor could within weeks be a heartbeat away from
being their commander in chief.
Compared to the journeyman career politicians dominating
both parties here she seemed fresh, natural, one of us and
not one of them.
She spoke to America as one mum to another. She cracked good
jokes.
What's the difference between a hockey mum and a pit bull?,
she asked.
Answer: One wears lipstick.
What will have scared the enemy camp most is the devastating
series of prime-time punches she landed on the jutting Obama
jaw.
Showing steel beneath her magnolia jacket, she slaughtered
his lack of experience, his vanity, his emptiness beneath
the windy waffle.
It was the most powerful demolition of the Democrat hero I
have heard in two weeks on the US election trail.
The St Paul audience adored her.
When she duffed up the Lefty media commentators for their
sexist sneers, the vast crowd roared approval and pointed in
anger at the titans of the American press aloof in their
special enclosure.
And quite right too: who ever asked whether Obama could
still be a good dad if he became president?
The irony, as Palin pointed out, is that liberal media
sniping has only succeeded in uniting Republicans behind
her.
The wagons have been drawn up and the Republicans are ready
for battle.
The McCain-Palin ticket now looks in exciting shape.
A war hero and a heroic mum. Experience and optimism. A man
and a woman.
And when McCain joined the Palin gang – babies and
boyfriends and all – on stage after her speech there was a
sense of cheeky fun absent from last week's solemn Obama
coronation.
How the Democrats must be regretting Hillary isn't running
with Obama. Barack's sidekick Joe Biden looks a dull old dog
compared with the ball of fire that is Palin.
But most fascinating of all, consider this: If Obama loses,
Hillary Clinton will run in 2012. Opposing her is sure to be
Sarah Palin.
That would guarantee America its first woman president.
And my fistful of dollars, having seen both in action here,
would be on Palin.
© 2008 News Group Newspapers Ltd.
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LONDON