How'd she do last night?

Sarah Palin did remarkably well in terms of the performance. She was poised and well-spoken. She pulled off the “folksy” part rather well. And she came back strong on defending McCain.

And therein is the problem. I felt like I was watching one McCain political ad after another for 90 minutes. The substance of her remarks amounted to nothing more than the record of John McCain and why we should trust him.

In fact, the whole night was about McCain. Biden was cutting him down and Palin was pumping him up. McCain’s name was used 105 times vs. Obama’s 60 times.

Some women in leadership positions deserve the title, “tiger lady.” Maybe I’m old-fashioned but women who act extra tough seem to be trying too hard. They don’t appeal to me. (I know; it’s the sexist coming out in me.) Palin got close to the edge a couple of times but generally managed her tone.

I like this quote from Margaret Nadauld: "The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity" ("The Joy of Womanhood," Ensign, Nov. 2000, 15).

All in all I was disappointed that she was so scripted. I wanted to get inside her head and find out how she would react as a world leader. Instead I got the party line in every answer. The only time she parted company with McCain was drilling in ANWR (complete with a wink.)

Of course, I would have liked to hear her personal view on immigration and the illegal alien crisis. But that topic is obviously off-limits, except to Hispanic-only audiences.