She aced first test, but there'll be more

ST. PAUL
GIVE SARAH PALIN her props. Hers was the most anticipated speech of the Republican National Convention, and she turned in a deft, effective, and witty performance.

She was part sympathetic Everymom, equating her well-publicized family challenges with those of everyday Americans.

She was part shrewd conservative populist, promising an intrepid reform spirit and fanning the fires of Republican resentment against the media.

And she was part Sarah Barracuda -- or at least Sarah Stingray. A newcomer to the national stage, Palin didn't shrink from the fray, lampooning the Democrats with sly, barbed wit.

A small-town mayor, she quipped, "is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.''

The presidency, she said, "is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery.''

With lines like those, Palin demonstrated she understands that, as W. Somerset Maugham often observed, the rapier of sarcasm is more effective than the bludgeon of invective.

How good was she? Well, she completely outshone Mitt Romney, whose convention turn as Republican heavyweight was a contrived and dopey exercise in attack tedium. Has the Mittster forgotten that Republicans have controlled what he termed "liberal" Washington for most of the last eight years?

You could almost hear the sigh of relief run through John McCain's high command after Palin spoke. You could certainly hear the roar of approval from the electrified GOP delegates in the Xcel Energy Center.

At least as far as this gathering was concerned, a political star was born.

But let's be clear: One impressive speech, even one delivered under tremendous pressure, does not a campaign make.

Palin's success will not put an end to the questions about her.

Nor should it.

The Republicans are spinning furiously to portray the scrutiny Palin has received as media piling on, with speaker after speaker assailing the press as biased or sexist or both.

Yes, some of the coverage has been obsessive. One can't help but feel sorry for Palin's 17-year-old daughter, who has found herself thrust into the national spotlight for the kind of mistake thousands of American teenagers make every year. Bristol Palin shouldn't be fodder for political attacks or critiques of her mother's policy stands.

But an examination of Palin's record is completely legitimate, no matter how much Republicans squawk. And that record includes her ultra-conservative stance on abortion, her support for the teaching of creationism along with evolution, and her view that our troops are in Iraq on "a task that is from God," who has also apparently taken a celestial interest in the natural gas pipeline Palin numbers among her top priorities.

We also need more information about the role she played in pushing to have her former brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper -- and whether she ousted a public safety commissioner for refusing to do so.

Further, despite charges of sexism, questions about her experience and preparation for national office are totally appropriate. Although it may not worry diehard Republicans like those in the hall, judicious voters have every right to wonder whether someone who has made only one trip abroad and -- excluding Canada and a refueling stop in Ireland -- has visited only three foreign countries, really has the knowledge to lead the nation if thrust into the presidency.

As the McCain campaign has pointed out, Obama himself has less than four years of high-level experience.

Still, over the course of a long, tough campaign, the Democrat has been able to persuade millions of voters that he is weighty enough for the top job.

As a candidate for vice president, Palin will face a similar challenge. Perhaps the Alaska governor will display the foreign-affairs and domestic-policy fluency necessary to convince America that she is indeed ready. But campaign trail briefings can't belatedly fill a substance deficit, so if she doesn't possess that mastery, it will soon become apparent.

Unless she is kept under tight wraps, that is. But that would be an admission that she's not ready for prime time.

So, though Palin aced her convention screen test, the true challenge will come in the weeks ahead.

Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.