Palin hits it out of the park

I stayed up to watch Sarah Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention last night. After her surprise entry into the Veep field, after the media onslaught and revelations into her personal life, this was the speech that would either confirm her credentials or ensure that the Democrat bounce after their convention continued.

She fired up the crowd and brought passion and vigour to the Republican campaign You see, for all that McCain has put forward, the fresh "change" ticket is the Obama one. Palin does not represent the Establishment but at the same time, she should kick into gear the huge GOP base who were not gunghoe McCain fans but in Palin they have a poster girl for old fashioned Republican values.

Palin had Bush's speechwriter at her disposal but her delivery was credible, fiery and full of humour.She took on her critics and reinforced the arguments of the McCain camp against Obama ("I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities" and "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"). The full text of her speech can be found at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4671886.ece. It is worth a read.

Reading some of the reviews today, the vast majority were praiseworthy but some dismissed the speech as employing cheap shots. I stopped in my tracks when I heard, "But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?" The GOP has to be very careful about how far it goes in mocking its opponent. Obama could claim the moral high ground, especially after (when questioned about the revelations into Palin's family life) he noted that Palin's personal life was out of bounds. Punch and Judy politics are all very well but I suspect that the GOP would benefit more from pursuing a line of substance over Obama's perceived style by setting forth policy arguments, than laying into him quite so ferociously.

But in this make or break speech, Palin had to come out fighting. One of the roles of the VP Candidate is to be the attack dog. Well, she did exactly that, except that - as noted in her speech - the only difference between a hockey mom and a bulldog is lipstick.

In this thrilling and unexpected Presidential contest, it will be interesting to see how Obama responds.