Sarah-Mania

I'm trying to think of the last time there was a candidate that commanded so much interest. From the Tina Fey dead-on impressions through the shopping gate and travel gate questions associated with her family ties, it is hard to ignore that Sarah Palin is like a hurricane blowing through.

Why? Because she's good-looking? Because she's folksy? Because we know all of the intimate details of her family?

I don't know - but I must say that I read every article about her, and I am certainly drawn to her speeches and to Tina Fey who deserves an award for her impression - watch that and not laugh - even Sarah laughed at it last week when she joined SNL.

Yet this is just me - I don't get it. I can't see her as the president of the country. Not now, not in 4 years, not in 16. I'm not being bigoted or sexist - I just can't imagine it. Perhaps it is all because of the preconceived notions that we have for our leaders - that they be Ivy-leagued schooled or middle-aged white men. I sort of had the same problem with Hiliary - when she started yelling I felt as if I were back in grade school and the nun was chasing me with a ruler, or when I pissed off my mother and she gritted her teeth and told me to sit under the counter until my father got home. I remember never really being afraid, but when that door opened and mom spilled the beans to my father, I got real nervous.

Sarah Palin has become a rock star - and perhaps that is what the GOP was going for -yet she can also be a polarizing figure for many. After the tenth wink during the VP debate I thought I might throw up. Yet I have a sister who absolutely adores her as the greatest political force in history.

Can she be the leader of the free world? Ever? I don't know. Yet deep down, I do understand that she'd be better than who we had sitting in that chair for the past eight years - and he was a straight-d student from Yale.