Along Came Sarah

Republican Representative Tom Davis noted earlier this year “the Republican brand is in the trash can…if we were dog food, they would take us off the shelf.”

Opinion polls, defeats in elections and the positions of the stars have all pointed towards a glorious victory for the Democrats on November 4th: Barack Obama wins the presidency and Democrats sweep a hefty congressional majority.

Even common sense dictates that George W. Bush’s party cannot possibly win the White House again. Not while the war still rages in Iraq and Osama bin Laden remains on the loose. Not while the economy is in distress and the whole system is waiting for an overhaul from highway bridges to health care, from voting machines to re-establishing the rule of law.

Then along came Sarah. Alaska’s governor, Sarah Palin, whom nobody outside Alaska really knew anything about a week ago, but who is now known by Republicans on a first-name basis. Presidential candidate John McCain had met with his VP-nomination apparently only once before — Sarah simply appeared like a rabbit from a magician’s hat, or a “bunny” from a cake. We’ve been quick to learn that Palin, member of a Pentecostal church, says she opposes government waste, has doubts over the cause of global-warming, supports drilling oil from Alaska’s nature reserves and is pledged into the war against terrorism.

“Al Qaeda’s terrorists plotted to bring catastrophic destruction upon Americans and he [Obama] is worried if they’re read their rights?” she joked in front of the convention’s audience. Maybe Obama’s concern is caused by his teaching of the US Constitution in universities, as well as reading the newspapers in the past few years.

Commentators concluded after her speech on Thursday that Palin is a Conservative with a big C, the new Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher. However, first and foremost she is an evangelical, pro-life Republican, in other words strongly against abortion, allowing it only when the mother’s life is in peril – even in the case of rape victims.

G is for gays and A is for abortion. In the year 2004 Bush’s troops hit on the “G-button” and Bush was re-elected with the industrious support of the evangelicals. Now the “A-button” has been pressed and it’s time to buckle up. Obama, who already captivated Berlin and Europe, will have to charm many more Americans to win these damn elections.