I had several other things I wanted to blog about today, but this week has gotten a lot busier and now I'm just going to post some quick thoughts on the Palin speech. Obviously I'm not the target audience, but I had to say that I wasn't that impressed. I think she did it competently, but I'm not sure I even felt like it was well delivered, even if I've already heard a lot of folks saying it was. Really though the biggest problem with it, for me anyway, was the fact that I don't really feel like I know her any better than I did before. She talked about her family, and she talked about her record in Alaska, but I didn't get the sense that she regained control of her story. Instead, I think there will be lots more digging and some tough, tough questions if she ever shows her face at a press conference. Getting control of public perceptions about her was the biggest challenge tonight, and I don't think she met it.
Also, while again I wasn't the one she was trying to convince, the attacks on Obama seemed a little harsher than I had expected -- particularly considering the fact that very little has come from the Obama camp attacking her up to now. I suppose they're trying to get him to return fire; hopefully he'll be cautious if he does. So far I think the Obama campaign has handled this situation perfectly, and they should stick to the high ground.
All in all though I came away from the speech a lot less worried about the fate of this election than I have been over the past couple of days. She may have riled up the base, but I don't think that was a speech that will bring a lot of independents on board. What it made me want to do is go out and become a community organizer.
MORE: As astute as ever, Ezra writes about the missed opportunity for Palin to really tell her story.
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