Sarah In The Home Stretch

<I>"They are not my property. Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me."</I> ~ Gov. Sarah Palin in Charlotte, North Carolina<br /> <br /> Sarah Palin found her stride in North Carolina on Sunday, but is it too late? Walking out in front of the throng of supporters, Gov. Sarah Palin greeted supporters in jeans and boots and an off-the-rack jacket. They looked good on her.<br /> <br /> I've spent a little time traveling around Georgia over the last couple of weeks speaking to the party faithful. Sarah Palin is what they are excited about. I even spent some time just a stone's throw from North Carolina talking to the state's party leaders as they recruit kids from the North Georgia Mountains to come north for the home stretch. They love Sarah Palin, and so do I, but before you write me off as being a victim of Palin-mania, read on.<br /> <br /> The middle class has been excluded from the inner circles of Washington political influence. The political elite and the media elite appear to be in cahoots to exclude anyone who doesn't travel in their circles. They look down on the public education that they defend through their support of teachers unions. Because of their coverage of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, this election has shown that sexism has replaced racism as the worst ill of this society. The media elites and the political elites are hypocrites of the first order. <br /> <br /> However, we can't lose sight of what Sarah Palin means to the party and the conservative movement. She's not Margaret Thatcher, and she's not the savior of the party, but she is the catalyst for a new conservative movement. Regardless of what happens on November 4th, Sarah Palin is a genie that can't be put back in the bottle. <br /> <br /> She is one of us, the women on the 70s and 80s who married, had children and then careers happened. Politically, these women have been "squishy" and have been mostly recruited by men running for office. It was revealed recently that Barack Obama said he "loathed the suburbs." In addition, he said about the people of Pennsylvania they cling to guns, God and religion in times of hardship. Obama and his new administration will lean toward the cities in a way we haven't seen since the Great Society, and Sarah Palin represents the antidote to that. <br /> <br /> Palin's appeal comes from the fact that she is one of us; she fought the system, and the inside the beltway consultant types don't get that. She wasn't a Barbie Doll to dress up to look like an American politician. She is an American politician, and, in retrospect, should have worn her own jeans and jackets to every event. <br /> <br /> Please let me be clear about this: she is not the only answer. Sarah Palin cannot give conservatives their voice that has been silenced by the Obama-mania media, be she can provide clarity and a little backbone to a center-right country. Regardless of what the Obama-mania media says, we are a still a center right country, and conservatives cannot lose sight of that. <br /> <br /> Sarah is part of "The American Pendulum," a concept discussed in "Indivisible: Uniting Values for a Divided America." We take good ideas and go too far with them and then set about fixing them. We thought George W. Bush was a conservative, then found out he wasn't, but he was the lesser of two evils and a good commander-in-chief. Conservatives are looking for a leader. And there is competition for that right now in America.<br /> <br /> Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and now Sarah Palin are in the running to lead the conservative movement out of the liberal haze. Even if John McCain is elected president, the conservative movement needs momentum and new leadership. Conservatism is the engine of fairness, wealth and prosperity as well as a social construct that will grow our nation positively. We should hold our heads up and be proud of that. <br /> <br /> I like Sarah, I relate to Sarah. She's not Joan of Arc and she's not Margaret Thatcher, but she is a conservative, successful politician finding her way. She's been handled badly, which is a theme for the McCain campaign. I suspect, if we let Sarah be Sarah and John be John, we'd be biting a few less nails in the days before the election.<br /> <br /> Author's note: If you want to help the John McCain campaign from your own home, you can do it by logging on to johnmccain.com, signing up as a volunteer and from your own home -- you can call voters in battleground states and remind them to get out and vote. <br /> <br /> <I>Ms. Zoller is a political analyst and conservative talk show host for WDUN AM 550 in Gainesville, Georgia and syndicated on The Georgia News Network. She is one of the Talkers Magazine "Heavy Hundred" Talk Shows in America for 2005-2007. She can be seen regularly on cable news. She is the author of "Indivisible: Uniting Values for a Divided America." You may contact her through www.marthazoller.com.</I>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/10/214786