Since resigning from her governorship last July, Sarah Palin hasn't made a false move. This is surprising for someone who is more passionate than cautious and one reputed to be...well, you know, a dummy.
Her book tour went exceedingly well. She has received thousands of invitations to speak, notwithstanding her $100,000 price tag. She continues to raise huge sums of money for her sponsors and draw sellout crowds. Her policy announcements have been spot-on, whether delivered in her speeches, interviews, or Facebook posts.
Because of her ignominious charge of "death panels" to decry Obamacare, she more than anyone is responsible for the overwhelming majority now opposed to the law. Although Obama's supporters denied such "death panels" at first, many experts now openly admit to them.
In foreign affairs, she coined the Obama Doctrine as "coddling your enemies and alienating your friends." This characterization is now commonplace. Palin also decried Obama's statement that the U.S. would not retaliate with nuclear weapons if it were attacked by WMDs and suggested that the U.S. was asking to be hit. Obama, in his non-response, replied with "I really have no response to that. The last I checked, Sarah Palin is not much of an expert on nuclear issues." And "What I would say to them is, is that if the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff are comfortable with it, I'm probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin." Palin came back, quick as a flash, sarcastically honoring "the vast nuclear experience that he acquired as a community organizer, part-time senator, and full-time candidate." Within hours, Obama was retracting his original statement.
Finally, Palin has come down squarely on the side of Israel, Israel's right to expand, and a united Jerusalem. She fully supports Israel's right to self-defense and said that we shouldn't be second-guessing her. Such policies are the polar opposite of what Obama is pushing for, and the former enjoy the support of a large majority of Americans.
Palin's energy policy of "Drill, Baby, Drill" and "all of the above" also has broad support. She was the first to attack Obama's proposed drilling legislation that she characterized as "Stall, Baby, Stall." This support is rapidly decreasing in the wake of the disastrous explosion or malfunction of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, which promises a looming environmental disaster for America's southern coastline. But Palin is sticking to her guns, if you'll pardon the expression. She didn't retreat. She reloaded and reaffirmed her
support for drilling despite the risks. Sarah Palin
lived through the Exxon-Valdez disaster that devastated her home state of Alaska. As fate would have it, she was responsible for finally bringing Exxon to judgment when she was governor after a twenty-year battle. So she knows the devastation firsthand and will do everything she can to minimize the risk. But still, she wants to "Drill baby drill."
A recent
Gallup Poll showed for the first time that more people think that abortion should be illegal under all circumstances than legal under all circumstances. This can be due only to Palin's unapologetic pro-life stance.
Ever since the presidential election campaign, Palin has been advocating lower taxes, as opposed to higher spending, as the path to job growth. According to a recent
Rasmussen Poll, Americans agree with her by a margin of 2:1.
Arizona just passed a controversial immigration law. Obama attacked the new law and called on blacks and Latinos to get out the vote. Sarah Palin, in a
recent interview with Sean Hannity, came out in full support of the new law and attacked Obama for not fulfilling the federal responsibility of protecting U.S. borders. She also attacked him for racist comments he had made pitting Latinos and blacks against other Americans. In the interview, Palin effectively contrasted his remarks with her calls to all Americans to solve their problems together. Once again,
polls show overwhelming support for the new law.
During the debate on financial reform, Palin came out
against institutionalizing "crony capitalism." When Obama said America is a military superpower "whether we like it or not," Palin said she was taken aback by his comment. She said, "I would hope that our leaders in Washington, D.C. understand we like to be a dominant superpower. ... I don't understand a worldview where we have to question whether we like it or not that America is powerful." These positions were well-received.
When Rev. Franklin Graham was disinvited from the Pentagon's National Day of Prayer services for having made politically incorrect attacks against Islam, Sarah Palin was the first, and maybe only, political leader who
came out in support of him. She is not a slave to PC and will not mince words when placing blame, just like Graham didn't. Palin will fight to restore and protect freedom of speech. Americans appreciate this, as they desperately need to be able to candidly criticize any ideology they consider harmful or inferior.
Many of her detractors cite negative polling numbers to discredit her. They should be ignored
Public Policy Polling found in a poll reported on April 15 that
Sarah Palin now lags Obama only 45-47 after showing deficits of eight or seven points in each of the last three months. Both Obama and Palin have increased their base support, but Palin now trails Obama among independents 39-46 versus 35-49 in March.
As this poll demonstrates, Palin is quickly gaining support among independents. Give her another three months, and she will be leading Obama. And do not forget the growing enthusiasm gap as
reported by Politics Daily:
While voters are about evenly split about whether they support the Democrat or Republican in this year's congressional elections, the Republicans have opened up a 20 point "enthusiasm gap" when it comes to how eager they are to go to the polls, according to
Gallup's daily tracking polls conducted between April 1-25.
This growing gap is due to the Palin factor. She energizes her base as no other today can.
The left has done its best to demonize, ridicule, and reduce her, to no avail. The more that fair-minded Americans hear her, the more they are drawn to her. They no longer listen to Obama, but they do listen to her.
Not only are Americans embracing her message, but so are Europeans,
The leader of the Conservative Party in Britain, David Cameron, won the
third debate, by all accounts, in the leadup to the British Parliamentary elections. The reason, according to one pundit, was that Cameron went "Palin" and not "Frum."
There were no mentions of worthy 'Big Society' concepts, no vacuous 'vote blue, go green' slogans. Time worn, winning Tory messages were pitched; tougher immigration rules, tackling welfare dependency, lower business taxes, sound money and smaller government. Result? Clear win for the Tory leader.
Cameron also supports Israel and favors Britain withdrawing from the EU.
During the next six months, Palin will continue making speeches and supporting candidates of her choice. She will be coming out with a book on policy in the fall and will do another book signing tour. Then she will be off to Europe to visit with political leaders and stir up the people. I predict that huge crowds will embrace her and her message. No doubt, she will also visit Israel with her entire family, where they will be mobbed. It will be a media feeding frenzy.
A strong embrace in Europe and Israel will give her an enormous boost in America.
Ted Belman is the editor of Israpundit.