Palinpalooza

It turns out that that bogus list of Palin-banned books was on Obama's official website. Now, I'm not one to hold campaigns accountable for everything their supporters say. But if it's on your official website, you'd better be DARN sure that it's correct-- you are responsible for that. And when it's not correct, just shooting it down the memory hole is not sufficient.

Anyway. I've had a few days to ruminate about the Palin pick. I don't know if anyone could have predicted what picking her for VP would do to the race. If McCain knew, then he is exactly what Limbaugh has been calling him: McBrilliant. In one simple, usually symbolic move, McCain changed the entire race and gave himself a decent chance at winning. I think the reason for that is simple: Palin is a real person.

She doesn't pontificate about her father having a blue collar job-- instead she talks about the jobs she and her husband have held. Americans are able to relate to Sarah Palin in a way that they haven't related to anyone in the White House in my memory. And in one swipe, McCain stripped away the glories of elitism. Sarah Palin is confident, capable, and winning. And she did all these things without a trust fund, an Ivy-league education, or a papered pedigree. To me, it feels like government has just been given back to me-- that government really can work for me after all. It's as if McCain has reaffirmed what most Americans have known all along-- that someone who graduated from an obscure university in Idaho is just as capable as someone from Harvard. That government isn't a Kennedy-esque birthright, it's an American birthright. That you don't have to be born to privilege or even rise to it to make a difference.

Like there really is a shot for putting average Americans back in control of their government.

There'll be more on the policy and politics of Palin coming up. But I wanted to capture the mood of one reinvigorated conservative.