I’ve just spent some time listening to Bob Beckel and Alan Colmes question Sarah Palin’s lack of experience. To be fair, both gentlemen said that picking a woman was a great step in the right direction for American politics.

The experience thing isn’t unimportant but it isn’t everything. The reason why experience often is beneficial is because you can draw on that information to see what did or didn’t work. The reason why it isn’t everything is when a Joe Biden has lots of information inside his head but his critical thinking skills cause him to make bad decisions.

Everything that I’ve read about Gov. Palin, coupled with watching her speech Friday morning, tells me that she’s got outstanding critical thinking abilities. A close examination of her decisions tells me that she picks up on things quickly, which helps her make high quality decisions.

Two things in her background particularly stand out for me, things that political pundits might laugh at. The first thing from her personal, non-political, life that jumps out at me is that she was a point guard for a state championship team. the reason why that’s important to me is because point guards are the quarterbacks of the basketball court.

Great point guards like Magic Johnson, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd get the ball to their teammats at exactly the right time in the best place for that player to make important, sometimes gamechanging, plays.

By all accounts, that’s something that Sarah Palin excelled in in high school. That tells me that her critical thinking skills are very good. Another thing that tells me that her critical thinking skills are good is that she hasn’t lost sight of her mission.

When she was on the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, she didn’t lose sight of her job description. Her job title with the AOGCC was ethics supervisor, meaning that she was tasked with investigating ethical violations. the highest profile ethics complaint was against Randy Ruedrich, then the chairman of the Alaska Republican Party.

It didn’t matter to Sarah Palin that she was also a Republican. Her job was to eliminate corruption wherever it was found. She focused herself like a laser beam on eliminating the corruption, much of which was within her political party. After getting Ruedrich to leave his job just ahead of an investigation was just the start.

She then took on Frank Murkowski, who’d served Alaska as a senator In the US Senate. She knew that he was a corrupt politician. Despite the long odds of defeating then-Gov. Murkowski in the Republican primary, she focused on defeating him. Without a hint of defeatism or pessimism, she set out to do just that. Months later, she’d defeated Gov. Murkowski. She then defeated Tony Knowles in the general election. She currently has a job approval rating north of 80 percent.

Another thing that I picked up on was that she confidently identified herself as a hockey mom. Having played in youth hockey back when I was young, I’ve seen alot of things that hockey moms do. In St. Cloud, they get up exceptionally early to get their kids to the rink for practice. For youth teams, that also means that they drove the kids to their games. St. Cloud’s youth hockey association wasn’t well-financed enough to charter buses.

In other words, hockey moms willingly made big sacrifices for their children. Simply put, that’s a personal character trait that is in too short of supply in politics.

Finally, I can’t omit the Palin’s decision to bring Trig into the world, especially knowing that he would have Down Syndrome. Not only did they bring him into the world but they saw him as a precious gift from God. Dick Morris was moved by this decision tonight on Hannity & Colmes. He said that everyone “knows that I’m pro-choice”, then proceeded to tell the audience that he was moved by this story. He said he had to tip his cap to the Palins for living out what they believed.

That’s quite the testimonial. I couldn’t agree more.

When you look at Sarah Palin’s public life, the thing that jumps out at me is how consistent she’s been in following her beliefs and her steadfastness in eliminating corruption. She’s dealt with energy policy. She’s done everything she can to eliminate corruption within the Alaskan Republican Party. She’s exercised fiscal restraint while signing off on a bill authorizing the building of a natural gas pipeline that will keep our supply of natural gas strong.

This isn’t a ‘business-as-usual’ lady. She isn’t the type that will be affected by criticism from party elders or the media. I’m confident that she’ll learn foreign policy quickly. Gov. Palin’s determination in ending status quo Washington will endear her to people all across the nation.

In short, she’ll go a long ways towards restoring the ‘Republican brand’.

The biggest mistake Democratic pundits are making is underestimating her abilities, her focus and her determination. In that respect, people will notice the attention gap between Gov. Palin and Sen. Biden. Sen. Biden is a true gentleman but he’s got a history of not maintaining his focus. The contrast between his meandering focus and Gov. Palin’s attention to detail won’t put Sen. Biden in a good light.

In the end, that’s why Gov. Palin is such an outstanding pick. She’s a great compliment to Sen. McCain’s critical thinking abilities. That’s why they’ll be the compelling story on the campaign trail.

Technorati: Sarah Palin, Sports, Hockey Mom, Point Guard, John McCain, Maverick, Energy Policy, Critical Thinking, Magic Johnson, Frank Murkowski, Corruption, Election 2008

Cross-posted at California Conservative