Special Rules for Special Needs

ALTHOUGH Sarah Palin’s GOPconvention address was full of partisan zingers, one of its most memorable passages was anything but pit-bullish. It touched gently on her infant boy’s Down syndrome: “To the families of special-needs children all across the country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.”

Palin didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t necessary: The words humanized her before an audience that was hearing her voice for the first time. Yet her promise to promote the interests of special-needs children holds the potential to do more than target sym pathy voters. It puts her in position to become the patron mother of one of the most hopeful developments in conservative education reform: the marriage of special education and school choice.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.

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ALTHOUGH Sarah Palin’s GOPconvention address was full of partisan zingers, one of its most memorable passages was anything but pit-bullish. It touched gently on her infant boy’s Down syndrome: “To the families of special-needs children all across the country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.”

Palin didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t necessary: The words humanized her before an audience that was hearing her voice for the first time. Yet her promise to promote the interests of special-needs children holds the potential to do more than target sym pathy voters. It puts her in position to become the patron mother of one of the most hopeful developments in conservative education reform: the marriage of special education and school choice.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.