Palin disappointed, that's true, but she was all along an exemplar of a certain character type, embodying certain deeply American values, that people had been longing to see on the public scene. It's true that we need to find a tougher, bolder, smarter version of the Palin model for 2012, but it was important that she surfaced as a symbol for all of the Americans who'd been left behind, so to speak. McCain was supposed to, as a war hero and "maverick," fill in the holes, but, let's face it, when the chips were down he wasn't exactly Teddy Roosevelt either.