Hugh Hewitt: Sarah's setup for 2012

A review of "America By Heart"
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Hugh Hewitt reviewed Gov. Palin's America by Heart for the Washington Examiner's Monday edition and found it to be "a very fine read, one that displays a unified theory of America and a complete understanding of the key currents that will swirl through the politics of the next two years." He also judges it to be "a near perfect setup for a presidential run":

If the book has a target, it is in fact the coastal elites that define and drive so much of American culture. The big foots of Manhattan-Beltway-Los Angeles media aren't going to be familiar with Charles Stanley or Max Lucado, but Palin is comfortable quoting them in support of her points. Some of those elites might recognize the names of Fred Barnes, Arthur Brooks, Jonah Goldberg, Kathryn Jean Lopez, and Rich Lowry, but they may blink at Palin's quick references to the Brooks' key book, "The Battle." The odds are good that these elites are not regular readers of National Review or the Weekly Standard and thus not remotely familiar with the arguments that powered the red wave this past November.

Palin's grasp of the current political moment is comprehensive. She knows the conservative movement. She is generous about those who lead it with her, spending time praising Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, for example. And contrary to press reports, she allots very little ink to direct criticism of the president.

"America by Heart" is an upbeat, positive affirmation of traditional American values. I have often thought and said that not since Richard Nixon can any Republican divide a room more quickly than Sarah Palin, and this is because she is so completely the anti-anti-American, totally comfortable with and confident in her assertion of American exceptionalism. Palin is also very much the counterforce to Al Gore, not only as the repudiation of his ideology and his politics, but also as a base-rousing, media-driving original whose appeal cannot be blunted by the endless abuse she receives from the unwatchable washed-ups on "The View" or elsewhere.

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Hewitt rains on the hopes of liberals who wish she would just go away, calling Sarah Palin "a powerful American voice, one that will remain that way for years to come, whether she runs for president in 2012 or not."

- JP