Sarah Palin Steps Up

Has it only been a week? The "My Fair Lady" metaphor, footwear and all, comes full circle with Maureen Dowd's column today:

"I hope John McCain doesn’t throw his slippers at Sarah Palin’s head or get as acerbic as Henry Higgins did with Eliza Doolittle when she did not learn quickly enough. McCain’s Pygmalion has to be careful, because his Galatea might be armed with more than a sharp tongue.

"For the first time in American history, we have a 'My Fair Lady' moment, as teams of experts bustle around the most famous woman in politics, intensely coaching her for her big moment at the ball--her first unscripted interview here this week with ABC News’s Charlie Gibson."

Last Wednesday I wrote:

"With a phalanx of Henry Higginses and Col. Pickerings, Sarah Palin is being prepped for her Eliza Doolittle debut at the Republican equivalent of the Embassy Ball tonight...

"But before we enjoy the catharsis of Eliza flinging slippers at Henry Higgins, we might want to keep in mind how that climactic scene would play in the Oval Office where something more substantial than slippers might be the nearest objects at hand."

That should do it for Palin in the Shoe Department, unless someone wants to go another round with Cinderella's glass slipper. Anyone for a few words on how it feels to be in Joe Biden's boots?

Palin's "My Fair Lady" Moment

With a phalanx of Henry Higginses and Col. Pickerings, Sarah Palin is being prepped for her Eliza Doolittle debut at the Republican equivalent of the Embassy Ball tonight, and it would take a heart of stone to see the drama only in political terms.

But this movie will be shown, not on TCM, but all the TV networks, and, as new details emerge about Gov. Palin's past, we find there is much more at stake than whether or not the flower girl passes muster in a world of self-satisfied snobs and poseurs.

In past life, Eliza was selling violets but now we learn that Mayor Sarah was ideologically firing town officials and trying to ban books in the library with what neighbors describe as "a polarizing single-mindedness."

Last night, the Republican Convention gave us Fred Thompson narrating a combined remake of "Sergeant York," "Patton" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and no doubt tonight's movie will be even more riveting. Who could be rooting against the upward mobility of a savvy, spunky young woman in the world of political privilege and posturing?

But before we enjoy the catharsis of Eliza flinging slippers at Henry Higgins, we might want to keep in mind how that climactic scene would play in the Oval Office where something more substantial than slippers might be the nearest objects at hand.