For those of you who did not live in California at some point during the last 25 years or so, you probably don’t know who Willie Brown is. He is probably the most colorful political figure of that quarter century, beating out Jerry Brown and even the Terminator himself. Willie is about as staunch a Democrat as you could find; the fact that he served both 15 years as Speaker of the California State Assembly and then as the first (and to date only) black Mayor of San Francisco should tell you all you need to know about that. But he’s always had a streak of intellectual honesty about him — witness his efforts to get rid of the homeless in San Francisco — and he’s certainly never dull.

So now, Willie has weighed in on Sarah, and he’s saying the things that few on the Left want to admit, at least not publicly:

The Democrats are in trouble. Sarah Palin has totally changed the dynamics of this campaign.

Period.

Palin’s speech to the GOP National Convention on Wednesday has set it up so that the Republicans are now on offense and Democrats are on defense. And we don’t do well on defense.

Suddenly, Palin and John McCain are the mavericks and Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the status quo, in a year when you don’t want to be seen as defending the status quo.

From taxes to oil drilling, Democrats are now going to have to start explaining their positions.

Whenever you start having to explain things, you’re on defense.

I actually went back and watched Palin’s speech a second time. I didn’t go to sleep until 1:30 a.m. I had to make sure I got the lines right.

Her timing was exquisite. She didn’t linger with applause, but instead launched into line after line of attack, slipping the knives in with every smile and joke.

And she delivered it like she was just BS-ing on the street with the meter maid.

She didn’t have to prove she was “of the people.” She really is the people. . . .

Read the whole thing (including all the non-Sarah stuff; his final ‘dining tip in Oakland’ is about as un-PC as you can get). Hat tip to the Moderate Voice via Instapundit.  ..bruce w..