I caught the last 15 minutes or so - and my immediate thought is...
This woman is a hell of a lot more eloquent and thoughtful than Obama ever was - and she doesn't need a teleprompter when stringing more than five words together. (She may have used one during the main part of her speech, haven't seen that yet. --- Update - no, no teleprompter. And she took a jab at Obama - 'charismatic guy with a teleprompter. LOL!) I watched her in the Q&A session afterwards - and was mightily impressed.
No, she hasn't gone to Yale, or Harvard, or the 'Proper Schools' who turn out our political classes. She hasn't come from the 'proper stock', the inbred, semi-aristocratic families who've tried hard to dominate the Washington culture for decades.
She's lived in the real world, outside the Beltway, in flyover country. Where results actually matter, and the value of an idea is in how WELL it performs when implemented, not how palatable it is to your friends and relatives.
Her ideas are based on what we NEED as a country as a whole, not what she'll spin out in order to get votes. And it's rather surprising to me there's people who have such a terribly, terribly difficult time with that. It's not difficult to understand that the days of 'Promise them anything, and forget the promises after the election' MUST end - and that there has to be something to replace it.
Obama's sure not able to give what's needed. Neither is Pelosi, or Reid. They haven't a clue what the country really needs, they just figure if they promise enough they'll be able to stay in office, rise through the food chain, and eventually be the big fish in the pond. And that sort of thinking has gone on WAY too long...
I listen to Palin, and I think she gets it. I could be wrong, but from what I've read of her, from what I've seen of her history - she gets it.
And she'll get my vote. This woman definitely, decidedly, absolutely has my vote if she runs in 2012. Failing that, I'll give her a hell of a lot of credibility when it comes to the candidate she may support.
The speech is here, at PJTV. You might need to register - but it's free and doesn't take long at all.
Palin in 2012? We should be so lucky...
J.