Woman At Work

Woman At Work



By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Thursday, September 04, 2008 4:20 PM PT

GOP: That sound you heard Wednesday night was the political glass ceiling being shattered by a working mom. We could be looking at the first female vice president of the United States — and first grandmother.

It was fitting for Gov. Sarah Palin to introduce herself to the nation while her family — including new son Trig and her future son-in-law — watched from the stands. For Palin, "family values" is more than a political slogan; it's a way of life. For her critics, though, it's been fodder for tabloid character assassination and questions no man would be subjected to.

She should be a feminist heroine. For decades it's been a feminist mantra that women can have it all, just like men. Now they have a real heroine who walks the walk, one who did not ride her husband's coattails into power like Hillary Clinton.

Perhaps that's why feminist emeritus Gloria Steinem, in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, said: "Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton." According to Steinem, Sarah is someone who has just "one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience."

Au contraire, Ms. Steinem. It is Joe Biden who has one month to learn to compete with the genuine accomplishments of this self-described pit bull with lipstick.

The strong woman who defeated a sitting Republican governor in the primary and a two-term former Democratic governor in the general election described herself as "just your average hockey mom." Not many hockey moms can handle an automatic rifle, run a state and bake cookies, too.

In an effective reference to Barack Obama's thin resume containing no similar executive experience and a poke at those who criticize hers, she said: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities." And no fake Greek columns to bloviate in front of.

Sarah Palin is the governor of a state that borders the Russian bear. She has shown she knows how to turn a bear into a rug right quick. She runs a government of 24,000 employees, oversees 14 statewide Cabinet agencies and manages a $10 billion budget. Obama claims he is qualified to be president because he's running a campaign for president. Oh.

Her husband is a steelworker on Alaska's North Slope. She has actually been there. She actually has seen a caribou. As governor of an energy-rich state that supplies 20% of America's power, she knows more about energy and its effect on people's lives and her nation's security than any community organizer would.

She spoke intelligently and expertly of America's need for energy security. This governor knows of "Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon."

She is aware that Iran might "seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies . . . or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia . . . or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries."

This "gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska" has the right answer. With a background chant of "drill, baby, drill," she proclaimed: "We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers." Not tire gauges made in China.

For five days, Sarah Palin was dissed as a backwoods bumpkin. In her stunning acceptance speech Wednesday, she soared Reagan-like over the heads of the elites and into the consciences — and perhaps the hearts — of Americans everywhere. This pioneering Alaskan may just be the one to lead her party out of the wilderness.



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