1. Coming from the conservative wing of the Republican party, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin unites the GOP by helping to secure support from the conservative base, which was not enthusiastic about all of John McCain’s positions. And McCain’s choice of Palin shows his willingness to work with conservatives and recognize their concerns. Donations for the campaign will now flow in.
2. She is a governor (of the largest state in the union). Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska for two terms, and before that a city council member for two terms. She reduced property tax levels while increasing services and transformed Wasilla into a business friendly environment, drawing in new industry. She worked with local, state and federal officials to promote solutions to the needs of Alaska’s communities. And she served as chair of the Alaska Conservation Commission, which regulates Alaska’s most valuable non-renewable resources: oil and gas.
Moreover, as governor she recently passed a gas pipeline plan. In other words, she knows firsthand about a vital area that is on everyone’s minds right now. She generally has been very effective within her state at getting things done.
Although criticized by the mainstream (i.e., liberal) media for being too inexperienced and only a heartbeat away from the presidency, these are transparently biased, agenda-driven attacks. As a governor, she has more executive experience than Obama and Biden combined – and the presidency is an executive position.
But she is not running for president. While in a normal election the charge against her might have some validity, this is not a normal election. The last time a senator (like Obama or McCain) was elected president was 1960. Obama has never even headed a single Senate committee. Palin may have been a mayor of only 9,000 people – but that’s 9,000 more people than Obama’s ever governed.
3. Her approval rating in her state hovers between 80 and 90 percent — the highest of any U.S. governor — and this at a time when, nationally, the president is polling at 27 percent and the Democrat-controlled Congress around 9 percent.
4. Palin is pro-Israel. She’s fostered warm relations with the small Jewish community in her state, which comprises roughly 6,000 people. Palin met with Israeli Foreign Ministry official David Akov, Israel’s consul general for the Pacific Northwest, and they discussed cooperation between Israel and Alaska on various issues, including counterterrorism efforts. He invited her to visit Israel and she impressed upon him her desire to do so, reportedly telling him that Alaska’s residents love Israel.
“The Jewish community should be very excited that Sarah was selected. She has been very conscious of the Jewish community here in Alaska and now with the opportunity of her new position, she’ll have the opportunity to look at the Jewish community globally,” says Jewish businessman Terry Gorlick, who knows Palin well and has worked with her on a number of issues. “Sarah’s absolutely pro-Israel.”
Both Gorlick and Alaskan Rabbi Joseph Greenberg have noted that as governor, Palin signed a resolution honoring Israel on its 60th birthday and supporting Alaska’s ties to the Jewish state. An unrelated video of her shows she has an Israeli flag in her office in Juneau (see http://alaskapodshow.com/index.php/2008/02/20/ at timestamp 6:50 -7:55, the right side of the screen).
The Juneau Christian Center, a church Palin attends, is scheduled to hold a Night To Honor Israel in March of next year, in conjunction with Christians United for Israel. (By contrast, Obama’s church published the Hamas manifesto in its news bulletin — from a positive perspective. And Obama’s pastor of twenty years not only described Israel as carrying out “state terrorism,” he bestowed a lifetime achievement award on Louis Farrakhan, with whom he paid a visit to Libya.)
5. Palin hunts and fishes, is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and supports Second Amendment rights. Her husband, Todd, works in the oilfields and is a champion snowmobile racer. He’s also a union member. They have five children. These biographical details will help garner votes across the heartland of America, from those who can identify with her roots and common touch – her self-described “hockey mom” lifestyle.
6. She comes across, both in person and on the stump, as genuine, motivated, and down to earth – in short, the real thing: a person who got into politics to truly serve the public and make a difference rather than as a means to pursue a powerful and glamorous career. These traits are an antidote to the pomposity and smugness of Joe Biden, known for his stealing of speeches, or the narcissism and arrogance of Obama, who wanted to stage a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Germany while still running in the Democratic primaries.