Historically, the Democrats have been better at developing “rock stars” than the Republicans.  Franklin Roosevelt was a rock star, a man with tremendous popular appeal.  He was jaunty and optimistic when few men were in a Depression-era.  He smoked his Chesterfields in a cigarette holder, gave off a sparkling smile, and exuded optimism even in most dire of times. 

Who were his opponents?  One was Herbert Hoover, the slightly overweight guy with the starchy collar and sour look.  The next one was Alf Landon, who carried Maine and Vermont, but not his native Kansas, a state not known as “the cradle of rock stars.”  The third opponent was Wendell Wilkie, who believed in “One World” (as opposed to three or four?) and wore rumpled suits. 

The final political rival was Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York.  I don’t know FDR’s height, but he gave off an impression of being tall.  Dewey was about 5-5 with a moustache.  Someone once said he looked “like the little man on the wedding cake.” 

JFK was a rock star.  Bill Clinton was a rock star – complete with the mistresses.  Obama is a rock star.  Tommy Thompson, Duncan Hunter, and Jim Gilmore are not.  Mike Huckabee is trying to become the first Baptist preacher ever to become the political version of “Elvis.”

Sarah Palin is a rock star.  Sanity102 put it well:  Sarah has a speaking voice that’s strong but feminine.  She’s pretty.  She has four “adorable” kids.  Her husband has one of the last of the macho occupations: fisherman.  

Sarah is something of a Scarlet O’Hara type also, someone who excels at beating the “guys” (including the then-current Republican governor and his Democratic predecessor) at their own game.   As a former point guard in basketball, she likes to run things, and her sky-high approval rating shows she does it well.

Ergo, an authentic “rock star.”

What are the odds that Sarah is going to realize our “impossible dream” and get the vice-presidential nod from Giuliani, McCain, Thompson, or whoever?   Those odds may be a lot better than some people think.

You can’t market a used politician – unless you’re Richard Nixon in 1968.  But Sarah is a new politician, a first-term governor after serving two stints as Mayor of “metropolitan” Wasilla, Alaska. 

Sanity102’s business partner asked: “Isn’t Sarah too good to be true?”   Good question. 

Someone once said of an American politician (Daniel Webster?), “No man could be as GREAT as he LOOKS.”   In terms of appearance, Sarah looks a lot better than Daniel Webster.  Also, she has a kind of charisma that, as Sanity102 observed, you couldn’t buy for a billion bucks.  The one thing she has in common with Gov. Dewey is that, like him, she’s also a crime-fighter.

With her small town background, the fisherman husband, and the number of children far exceeding her standard allotment of 2.2, Sarah is a throwback to an earlier America.  Even though very few of us live anymore in such benign times, we all yearn for them.  We want to retain at least a piece of that “Father Knows Best” world when things were simpler, kinder, and gentler.

If Sarah is at least partly an illusion – that is, if Sanity’s partner is right – well, so what? Wasn’t it Ralph Waldo Emerson who said that our illusions are critically important?   At their best, our illusions may be pretty close to what we call our ideals.

Sarah reminds me a lot of my friend and political ally Diana Lynn Irey, who ran for Congress against John Murtha.  Diana a tiny woman with a big voice – one of the best speakers in the country.  At 5-feet-tall and 99 pounds, one of her strongest supporters was a member of “Rolling Thunder,” a Viet Nam vet was about 6-4, 280. 

Was she as devout a Christian as she seemed?  She told me in all sincerity that her two favorite books were: (1) “The Holy Bible”; (2) “Listening to God.”   To her, God is a friend, someone Who might just decide to move in next door. 

“Little Diana,” my friend, my heroine, tiny in body but huge in spirit, became a leader among American servicepeople and their families.  She became a symbol of hope to people who saw that everything seemed to be falling apart.  Diana talked the talk, and she walked the walk. 

What you saw with Diana was what you got, and I see the same with Sarah Palin.  Diana Irey, whom many people see as the “perfect” woman, once told me, “I can’t stand ‘Perfect’ people.”   We don’t a right to ask Sarah, or any elected official, to be free from all known human flaws.  Remember, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”   Sarah: being good is, well, good enough.

Look at her, listen to her, and meditate on what she’s achieved in her relatively short life.  It’s not hard to imagine her seizing the day and becoming vice-president of the U.S.  It’s not hard to imagine her taking a step up after that.

Yesterday, I talked about “viral marketing,” and I’ll do so again tomorrow.  But what it means in this case is spreading the word about Sarah, a remarkable woman.  It means showing enough people the positive qualities she can bring to leadership in our nation’s capital.  It means telling your friends and neighbors her story, and then asking them to do the same.

Sarah has had some great triumphs in her life.  It just may be, however, that the best is yet to come.

(Tomorrow: What Can You Do?)