View from abroad: 'Forget the row about lipstick. It's Sarah Palin's politics that matter'

Observer editorial is here. (Emphasis added.) The Republicans have certainly succeeded in alienating our "natural friends and allies," starting with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld dissing those countries that didn't indulge George Bush's personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein. "Old Europe" indeed.

To many Europeans, especially of a liberal bent, the emergence of Sarah Palin as one of the dominant forces in American politics is a cause for dismay.

At first glance she seems to represent the triumph of the personal over the political. Her looks are remarked upon, her fashions critiqued. For supporters her status as a mother of five is touted as her greatest virtue. For others the Palin family is a source of sniping gossip. Her breezy, straight-talking style is hailed by admirers as a key to unlocking the vital support of the latest fad in polling demographics: Wal-Mart Moms. Others see it as a sign of a political ingenue possessing little in the way of sophistication beyond her background as a small town mayor.

This is to overlook the substance of her beliefs. Palin represents an extreme form of conservatism. She is not just anti-abortion, she opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest. And Palin supports the introduction of creationist ideas into the classroom, alongside evolution. She is sceptical of global warming, only recently accepting that human activities might play a role, flying in the face of vast bodies of scientific opinion - even the US government's own advisers. She is pro-drilling for oil in environmentally sensitive areas in a world that needs to wean itself away from fossil fuels. Her grasp of foreign policy is limited to a series of hawkish and naive soundbites on Russia, terrorism and Iran.

America has had eight years of a government that has held similar views. The result has been to put ideological and emotional distance between it and large parts of Europe, Asia and Latin America. Apart from isolationist Republicans, this is bad news both for America and the rest of us. America needs a friendlier world to do economic and political business. The world needs an America more in tune with its natural friends and allies.

The political beliefs exemplified by Palin and her fellow religious conservatives are not the answer, no matter how well presented by her considerable political skills.

Change is the watchword of the American election. But McCain, in putting Palin on his ticket, is trying to pull off an audacious con trick. Palin does not represent change, but more of the same. And then some.