Last night, all eyes were on Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, a woman who has gone from almost relative obscurity to a painful and bitter public examination over the past week. The former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and current Governor of Alaska strode to the podium to deliver a thirty minute speech that placed Democrats on notice that she certainly is one to be reckoned with this fall. With politics often being compared to sports and popular entertainment, reviews of Palin were littered with euphemisms that we all know well.

The much derided “Liberal Media” was extremely complimentary of Palin. NBC’s Tom Brokaw said that it was “a very auspicious debut.”

CNN’s Jeff Greenfeld offered the alliteration that the speech was a “perfect populist pitch.”

“A Star is born” was the phrase of choice for conservative Fox News’ Chris Wallace as well as CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer also added the standard euphemism that “it wasn’t just a home run, it was a Grand Slam.”

As a former baseball player and a trial lawyer that gives speeches for a living, I will disagree with Blitzer and offer that Palin “made contact” while landing on “First Base.” In plain terms, she did ok, similar in style and delivery to Michelle Obama last week.

Just last week, many of these same pundits were hailing Barack Obama’s speech as a “Grand Slam.” Are we to believe that we are witnessing a political batting race, similar to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in the summer of ’61? Well if Obama is Maris, Palin, to me, is certainly not “The Mick”---well, at least not yet.

In her defense, this was her first chance in the big leagues and the fact that she did not strike out is to be commended. Yet, in a week in which Republican speakers have blasted their Democratic rivals for their canned speeches “delivered on tele-prompters”, Palin did the same thing.

Still, the ultimate truth is that these conventions have the purpose of not only nominating the party standard bearer but to also craft the party’s vision. What Palin was able to offer is a glimpse into where the GOP may be heading as it will almost certainly be forced to adapt its core conservative beliefs to include more diverse coalitions, including women.

Tom “The Hammer” Delay, the former GOP congressman, has been extremely critical this week of the Republican Brand. At a forum yesterday he suggested that Republicans may “take 5 to 10 years” to regain their national prominence because the “conservative movement is not thinking long term.”

Some Republicans are hoping that Palin, a “rising star”, will prove Delay wrong this year by helping to propel McCain to the White House while being groomed for her own potential run in years to come.

Palin highlighted her beautiful family, which sat in a row with Cindy McCain. After the usual pleasantries about her background, she immediately discussed her credentials, comparing her experience as Mayor of Wasilla to being a “community organizer”, a sarcastic swipe at Obama’s early career that drew raucous laughter and applause from the delegates.

Palin also took a jab at Michelle Obama by insisting that by being from small town America she has been “proud of her country” through “good times and bad.”

Palin also discussed her time as an Alaska reformer and her experience on Energy policies, insisting that a McCain-Palin administration would “immediately begin laying pipeline”, an obvious nod to the overwhelming majority of Americans that favor drilling in the short term.

With respect to the future, Palin also suggested that she is committed to developing alternative fuel sources to help ease America’s dependence on foreign oil. Palin was able to cleverly tie in the major talking point of this convention, the War on Terror, with the Energy crisis by suggesting that we should not have to depend upon Venezuela or Iran for oil and gas.

Palin also suggested that Obama would “raise income taxes, payroll taxes and death taxes.” While certainly a stretch considering Obama’s oft stated goal of cutting taxes for 80% of Americans, Palin did score points by noting that Obama’s plan would not cut corporate taxes as drastically as McCain has long advocated.

Palin took a swipe at Obama’s lack of “experience” by suggesting that Obama had “authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform in the State Senate.”

While that line also drew applause, it failed to contemplate that under such definition, Republicans Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, both of whom became legendary reform agents, would be deemed unqualified by today’s standards.

Still, political conventions for both parties are often short on historical accuracy and big on posturing. Indeed, one of the key talking points this week has been that Palin has more “Executive Experience” than both Obama and Biden combined. By that same logic, then she has more executive experience than McCain too, who has never served as mayor or governor during his long and distinguished career. Again, I have learned that logic often takes a backseat to catchy slogans designed to stir the faithful.

Which brings me to the question; did Palin do anything to help convince the millions of undecided voters that McCain and she are best qualified to lead? The faithful on both sides are locked in for 62 days of political combat and I continue to predict that there will be few crossover voters this year as Democrats are more focused on economic issues while Republicans are hedging all of their bets on the War on Terror.

But who will win the Independents, the folks who certainly want Al Qaeda eliminated from the face of the Earth but are also having a difficult time making ends meet? People who personally abhor abortion but do not believe that the government should tell a woman what to do when she becomes pregnant?

To that end, last week, Barrack Obama did a masterful job of not harping on the more polarizing aspects of liberal politics, such as Gay Rights, Civil Rights and Abortion Rights.

The Republicans have offered no such concessions. It will be interesting to see if the hard right policies that have been on display this week will result in victory this fall.

Welcome to the Feminist Movement…

As Tom Delay mentioned, Republican women are a “sleeping giant” that have been “awakened.” For a party that has long excoriated Blacks and women for “whining” or playing the “politics of victim hood”, it was shocking to note conservatives—men and women alike---blasting Left Wing blogs for their “sexist” treatment of Governor Palin.

It has been amazing to hear arch conservative writers like Jonah Goldberg express their “disgust” with how Palin has been subjected to unfair scrutiny this week. One of the most well received lines last night was when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani stated “How dare they question whether she has enough time to take care of her family.”

Discrimination is not a Left or Right issue, but a continuing problem in America. Governor Palin, like Hillary Clinton before her, has certainly been treated unfairly. But one of the things that I have learned is that many on the Right would prefer to pretend that no problems exist, hoping that by ignoring issues of unequal treatment that they will magically resolve themselves.

In many ways, Republican women are best situated to help change the disconnect that has often made the Party appear to be a haven for “Angry Men.”

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