Wednesday, September 3, 2008

My Initial Reaction to Palin's Speech

I'm sure I'll have more to say later, but I want to go to bed soon, so I'll just say this about Sarah Palin's speech tonight.

I think she was articulate, charming, entertaining, at times informative — and I think she'll give Joe Biden a run for his money in their Oct. 2 debate.

When she talked about how the people in small-town America "do some of the hardest work in America" — and I grew up in small-town America so I feel I know what she's talking about — I could hear in my head Jimmy Stewart in "It's A Wonderful Life," telling his nemesis that the "rabble" of whom he spoke so disparagingly "do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community."

It was a Frank Capra-esque moment.

And she took aim (figuratively speaking) at criticism of her experience, saying that "a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

I wrote earlier this week that, having given birth a few months ago to a child with Down syndrome, she could be an advocate for parents of special needs children. She took care of that right away.

But she didn't take the opportunity to address some of my questions.

With the recent revelations about her daughter's pregnancy, Palin has the opportunity to talk about her pro-life views and her belief that unmarried people, particularly unmarried young people, should practice abstinence. She did not discuss those beliefs in her speech.

She also did not speak about her religious views, including her belief that "intelligent design" should be taught in schools.

Right now, I would give the speech a grade of B–.

It was one of the better speeches I've heard given at a political convention in many years.

But it could have been better than it was.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Everyone is trying to find something wrong with Palin. Why? Because she is a conservative woman, and because she is pro-life and has core values, such as marriage? Yes, her daughter did get pregnant before she was married, as millions of young women do in today's society. But wouldn't you agree that marrying the father of the child and giving the situation the best possible chances is better than aborting the child? I would say so. I would think that most women would find someone like Palin very refreshing, and be excited about the chance of having a real woman, with real values, that has endured real hardships running for VP. I would think that most women would find comfort in someone telling them it's ok not to run around and sleep with whoever you want and use birth control and if you get pregnant, that it's alright to just get an abortion. But that only proves how messed up our society is. Women would rather hear that it's ok to act irresponsible and that there is a solution for you if you do end up getting pregnant and it's an easy way out and that it's acceptable. Makes me sick. Liberals are going to try to beat her into the ground. For once having a respectable and honest set of values. And for being a real woman with a real family and not being obsessed with woman's rights, but more concerned with woman knowing what's really right.