The real surprise for me Tuesday night after the State of the Union was over ,was the power and clarity of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders in her response.

I’ve watched many people try to respond to the State of the Union. It’s really hard to do. The President standing there in front of a huge crowd, it’s a big…almost a circus. He’s the center of attention, he gets over an hour of your time. He is the president. Whoever it is, whether it’s Trump, or Bush, or Obama, or now Biden. 

So there are huge psychological advantages to the president giving the State of the Union. And usually, people who try to follow it don’t do a particularly great job. They look tiny by comparison, and they’re not usually all that effective. But, I was stunned and I’ve known Sarah Huckabee Sanders for a long time and I’ve known her father, we campaigned together back in 2012 and I consider him a good friend.

She looked great. She clearly had practiced, she delivered a speech which I think may rival Reagan’s “a time for choosing” in 1964.

RONALD REAGEN: you and i have a rendevouz with destiny. we’ll preserve for our children, this the last best hope for man on Earth or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

It was personal. I mean, her story about her own cancer, her mother’s cancer, the sense of miracles, her story about Little Rock High School, and the nine young African American kids who were blocked from going in, and what happened in later years. And the fact that there’s now a statue to them at the state capitol a sign of how the times have changed.

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: I’m proud of the progress our country has made and I’m proud and I believe in giving every child access to a quality eduction.

Her commitment to practical common sense language – when she said at one point, the choice isn’t right or left; it’s between normal and crazy. It sounded exactly like Reagan in 1964.

And I think that she really did a great deal to really create a younger, newer, more vibrant Republican Party. 

Her emphasis that she’s a 40 year-old governor, the youngest in the country, and he is an 80 year-old who’s selling out the country and his party. She put it either because he really believes this stuff, or because he’s afraid to actually do anything to make the left mad at him. If you have not seen it, I really strongly recommend – don’t read it. But pull up the YouTube version and watch governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She is a real leader of the future.