I was speed-reading through Bill Whittle's Sarah Palin essay at the Corner after following the link from Insty, when I hit this paragraph that practically knocked me out of my chair:

She is so absolutely, remarkably, spectacularly ordinary. I think the magic of Sarah Palin speaks to a belief that so many of us share: the sense that we personally know five people in our immediate circle who would make a better president than the menagerie of candidates the major parties routinely offer. Sarah Palin has erupted from this collective American Dream — the idea that, given nothing but classic American values like hard work, integrity, and tough-minded optimism you can actually do what happens in the movies: become Leader of the Free World, the President of the United States of America.

That's it. That's the whole thing. The magical thing about Sarah is the she reminds each of us of the best of our friends - the omni-competent person or persons in our circle that we all try to match in dedication and smarts and thoughtfulness.

I wish I'd thought of that.

Think of it this way - imagine the person in your circle who most reminds you of John Edwards. Now imagine the person in your circle who most reminds you of Sarah Palin. Kind of a big difference, right?