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By BRIAN A. HOWEY
INDIANAPOLIS - For the second time within the amazing political year of 2008, a political rising star shot across the sky. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joins the too-good-to-be-true-Hollywood script with Barack Obama after delivering a magnificent introductory address at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night. With camera flashes sparkling off her eyeglasses, Palin struggled initially to be heard over the adoring crowd.
She quickly asserted herself, telling a national televison audience, “Here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I’m going to Washington to serve the people of 
this country.” She also shot off punishing jabs to Obama, saying at one point, “I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better. When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.”
The former two-term mayor of Wasilla added, “And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.” She assailed Obama for his controversial “small town” remarks that dominated several weeks prior to the crucial Indiana primary, saying the Democrat talked differently in Scranton, Pennsylvania than he did in San Francisco. This could be a potential change in the campaign dynamic as Obama has struggled to win blue collar, working class voters in states like Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Palin clearly endeared herself to this part of the electorate.
She talked of taking on the political establishment in Alaska and big oil, then promised to join McCain in pursuit of drilling for new oil, natural gas, nuclear power and clean coal.
Of McCain, she said, “Here’s how I look at the choice Americans face in this election. In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.”
With her son preparing to serve in Iraq on Sept. 11, Palin added this zinger on Obama: “This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word ‘victory’ except when he’s talking about his own campaign.”
She accused Obama of preparing to rise taxes on most Americans, in direct contrast to Obama’s speech in Denver a week ago where he promised he would cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans earning under $250,000 a year and end capital gains taxes.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe responded to the community organizer comments. “Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack’s experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed,” Plouffe said. “Let’s clarify something for them right now. Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies. Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America’s promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women’s suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it’s happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.”
After her speech, Americans watched her family - unlike any in poltics since Teddy Roosevelt - take the stage. Her commercial fisherman, United Steelworker, snow machine racing husband, a pregnant 17-year-old daughter, her hockey playing boyfriend, the military son and special needs baby. She promised to be a special needs family advocate in the White House.
It was about as good an introduction on the national stage I’ve seen, but it was a political speech that she characterized herself, noting that the difference “between a hockey mom and a pit pull: it’s the lipstick.” There was little policy in Palin’s speech.
McCain, clearly presiding over a re-energized campaign, walked out on stage after Palin’s speech and quipped, “Don’t you think we made the right choice?”
While McCain will ultimately carry the brunt of this ticket, Palin showed promise of “doing no harm” to the ticket while actually helping the GOP make inroads into key demographics. It also came as a new set of state polls showed McCain struggling in crucial Ohio while Obama was forging leads in states like Minnesota, which is playing host to this convention.
Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin
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This entry was written by and posted on September 3, 2008 at 11:51 pm and filed under HPI Weekly. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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