Unleash the Local Dogs

I watched Sarah Palin the last couple of days and wondered what the “professionals” of the campaign have done to her. The freshness, the spontaneity and the candor that sold her the first week have been stifled and what is coming across is an automaton programmed to respond with a paean of credit for John McCain rather than a sincere expression of Sarah Palin.

I’m on board with American Thinker here:

All Politics is Local

It is about retail politics. It is about the one-on-one of small-town America, not the nuance of East Coast policy wonks. It is about being real and Sarah has the ability to be real. No one seems to notice that relative absence in her counter-part. He is largely under the radar, except when he commits another serial gaffe and then it is written off with a grin by the media as “Joe being Joe.”

Over at American Spectator the redoubtable Bill Kristol offers some good advice:

Here's the Solution

She has to be allowed to meet people, shake hands and then prove that she has a mind of her own. Unleash her and let her speak rather than simply regurgitating something about how great McCain has been or will be. Let McCain and the campaign operatives handle that function. She has skill, charm, undeniable intellect and a warmth that will surely disarm the viciousness of the left while endearing her to heartland America.

Sarah energized the campaign, now she must be allowed to be herself and contribute to the possibility of victory. Dance with the girl you brought, John.