Oh, wow!

After watching Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s speech last night - oh, wow! Incredibly good. Governor Palin is going to be tough to run against. She did confront the question of her experience head-on but in ways far, far more clever than any I could have come up with.

I have to admit, I would have done the whiny thing:

that mean old Senator Obama keeps talking about how I’m just the mayor of a little town. Doesn’t he know I’ve been governor for almost two years?

I might even have stamped my little foot just for good measure. But Governor Palin is a lot smarter than I am. She claimed her time as mayor proudly and in a way that should resonate in every small town in American - even the blue ones.

As for foreign policy experience, oh my. She didn’t claim the National Guard or the negotiating table with Canada. Nope, she took us on a whirlwind tour of at-risk oil production sites (Abqaiq! - I wonder if Senator Obama knows where that is) winding up with a reference to Russia, the Caucasus, Europe, and oil as a weapon.

She also claimed her family - her whole family - proudly and forthrightly. The most priceless moment of the evening came when the camera cut to a shot of Piper, the seven- or eight-year old, holding Trig and trying to get his hair to lay flat by licking her hand and rubbing it over her head. My husband’s reaction was, “Eew”, but I had a little brother and I can tell you: that’s what not-so-big big sisters do.

All in all, a speech even better than the one her most passionate supporters were hoping for - and far, far, far better than the one her opponents were praying for. I haven’t sat down yet with a transcript of the speech - although I did have to look up how to spell “Caucasus” - so I might have more to say after I do so, but for right now “Oh, wow!” sums up her performance quite nicely.