Sarah Palin and the 3 Ds

Someone on Conservatives4Palin.com asked: Where do you think Sarah Palin's future lies?

Having met her, and witnessed two of her well-received speeches first hand, I'm convinced Sarah Palin is our next president. What convinces me? The 3 Ds.

Details

Sarah is meticulous in her preparation for each venue. She weaves in the local narrative to her message. She remembers names and facts. Without belaboring the point or seeming insincere, she expresses appreciation for individuals, for institutions, and pays tribute to local veterans and industry. She works the audience like a national leader at the top of her game, a sign of someone who can connect anywhere she goes, whether it's speaking to Daytona race fans, or bowlers, or loggers. While others may tune out the mundane, she focuses like a laser. I witnessed her straining her neck to watch a 7-minute Chamber of Commerce video in Salina, Kan. I'll admit it, it was a boring video. But Sarah did not divert her gaze once, and took notes the whole time. This is retail politics. I also saw her talking intently with an ordinary fan in Springfield, Mo. who had a suggestion for her about fundraising. She asked the man questions, she completely gave him her attention for several minutes, longer than the 30-second time allotted. She makes eye contact, asks you your name and where you're from, as she shakes your hand, and thanks you for coming. Her parents and extended family members walk right up to you and warmly introduce themselves to you and shake your hand like you're an honored guest or an old friend.

Discipline

What Sarah Palin has accomplished since July 26th (her resignation date), is mind-boggling. After a smooth transition in handing off power to Sean Parnell, she essentially completed her 400-plus page memoir in one month (August), working 20-hour days, according to her father, and extracting from her detailed journals. (We know other politicians that have been unable to produce a book so quickly). Meanwhile, she also wrote dozens of Facebook posts, including her infamous death panel bomb (also in August) that got the White House all wee-weed up, and several well-researched timely op-eds for national publications. She doesn't let grass grow under her toes. She's busy. Her whirlwind media blitz featured more than a dozen interviews during her 26-city book tour with only one hitch that was quickly rectified. This speaks to her organizational skills. Let's not forget that she also gave a fantastic foreign policy speech in Hong Kong that even won praise from NYTimes, and she dazzled the grizzled press CORPSE at the Gridiron Dinner in DC, while taking time out also to visit Walter Reed, and the families at Ft. Hood. She's given more than a dozen subsequent speeches, sorting through hundreds of invites. Her pay is on par with some ex-presidents and prime ministers, a testament to her drawing power, as well as her substance. Fox News hired her for her commentary and even justaposed her video feed from Wasilla on a splitscreen while President Obama entered for his first State of the Union address. Meanwhile, she's crisscrossing the country for sold-out appearances. Her schedule would have killed mere mortals. But Sarah is disciplined. She is focused. And these traits will serve her well if/when she hits the presidential campaign trail.

Devotion

Sarah is devoted to the cause of "lifting American spirits," "fiscal conservatism" and "energy independence" as she told the Tea Partiers. But her devotion is matched, if not exceeded by, an unbelievable intensity of devotion from those who gather to see her. I personally camped overnight with about 400 people in Springfield, Mo., in 20-degree temperatures, for her book signing in December. One couple drove all the way down from Ohio to see Sarah. Her speeches sell out almost immediately. The College of the Ozarks ran out of tickets for her speech in less than an hour after their announcement. Two thousand seats, gone. Immediately. The school didn't even have time to finish the website to announce the tickets before it was rendered obsolete. Salina Chamber of Commerce added an extra several thousand seats to their venue for her sold-out speech to 6,000, the largest Chamber of Commerce meeting in U.S. history. At these events, people seem to hold Sarah in a reverence. She's not a politician. She's a hero, a woman who has taken so much abuse that every single person in the room feels duty-bound to protect her. Some don't want her to run for that very reason: they're afraid for her and her precious family. Others love Sarah but are convinced that the "big wigs" will never let her win.

And then there are those of us who see the 3 Ds and think: Who is going to stop Sarah? And, please, by all means, LET THEM TRY.