In Sarah Palin, the Republicans have found themselves a rock star, a fresh voice, and an antidote to campaign fatigue in one package.  Democrats take heed; with the campaign running for more than a year and a half, picking Palin is proving to be a brilliant move by McCain.  Always assuming that we don’t have some lurid surprise awaiting us, given that she couldn’t have been as thoroughly vetted as the McCain people claim, there’s little question that the Democrats are suddenly on the defensive.

I say this to give the credit where it is due.  As a Democrat, of course I have my biases, but in this case I have to keep my public speaking hat firmly on my head and be as impartial as possible. 

The interesting question is, why is Palin proving so popular?  And the answer is instructive from a public speaking point of view. 

If you stand back a bit from the emotions and the fray, and look at all four candidates for a moment, what’s remarkable about these two teams is that there is a very high level of authenticity from each.  McCain the war hero speaks gruffly, sometimes cantankerously, and is at his best when he’s talking about war and keeping us all safe.  We believe he means what he says.  Obama the brilliant, Harvard-trained lawyer is cool, intelligent, pragmatic, and at his best when he’s asking us to imagine a future that is different from the past.  We believe him, too.  Biden is comfortable at once with his blue-collar origins and his role as a Senator.  Sure, he’s talkative and a little full of himself, but he’s straightforward, passionate, and lets us know where he stands.  His very lack of restraint and polish endears him to us.  Because he sometimes says too much, we find him credible. 

And then there’s Palin.  Her brilliant achievement is to talk to us like the ‘hockey mom’ that she is.  Like the other three, she doesn’t try to pretend to be someone she’s not.  And that straightforward air, with a bit of a chip on her shoulder, plays very well indeed across an America that feels threatened by economic forces we don’t have much control over. 

It is a very difficult feat to go from very little media attention as the Governor of Alaska to the full-on treatment that the 24-7 global media can dish out, and make giving a speech to the Republican National Convention look easy.  But that’s what she did.  Credit given where it is due.  Sarah Palin is a formidable opponent for the Democrats, who once thought they couldn’t lose given the dissatisfaction with the Bush administration and now see their lead in the polls slipping away.  Are the Democrats once again going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? 

If they do so, Sarah Palin’s formidable speaking presence will have certainly been a factor.  Never underestimate the power of the right spoken word from a leader who knows how to deliver.