Word: speeches
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...Born to Run Her departure was a distillate of all things Palin. It packed the same gob-smacking wallop as her arrival on the GOP ticket. Sunlit against an Alaskan waterfront, it was as telegenic as her boffo acceptance speech. Rambling along in Palinesque fashion, she didn't quite tell us where she's headed, but she left no doubt that she remains in a hurry to get there...
...Where does Sarah Palin go next? To the bank. She has already announced plans to write a book; her advance is reportedly in the millions. A celebrity of her wattage commands huge money on the lecture circuit, and at as much as $100,000 per speech, she can exceed her official salary in a couple of days. Attractive and garrulous, Palin seems born to host a cable-TV show...
...Whatever else we take away from Palin's abrupt announcement that she is quitting, she has proved that her low opinion of government includes even her own powers and prerogatives. As she put it in her farewell speech - the one that began "Hi, Alaska!" - the governor's office is no longer a place for "productive, fulfilled people ... choosing to wisely utilize precious time." A lot of conservative politicians stop wanting smaller government the minute the government is them. Then they discover that they like the trappings, earmarks and junkets, the plums for friends. For Palin, the job offered little more...
...That last comment might help explain why Obama has opted to deliver his key Africa speech to Ghana's Parliament rather than to a public crowd, which would probably have drawn huge numbers. The news site Politico last weekend speculated that Obama - or his security detail - may also want to avoid the kind of bedlam that greeted Bill Clinton's visit to Accra in 1998, when he was nearly crushed by a crowd that numbered in the hundreds of thousands. On that day, as people surged toward the stage, the visibly terrified Clinton shouted, "Get back! Get back!" (Read "Into...
...frenzy over Obama is a lot more intense than the enthusiasm for Clinton during the 1990s, infused as it is with the moving symbolism of a prodigal African son returning as the world's most powerful man. Obama's speech will almost certainly be watched and listened to by millions of Africans, many of whom are struck by the fact that in contrast to that of several of their leaders, Obama's path to power was not paved by family connections or inherited wealth and regard Obama as one of their own. "I have lost count of the number...