Will Palin end silence on Egypt in next few hours?

New York: Could Friday night be one of those defining moments in the career -- and potential presidential candidacy -- of Sarah Palin?

Egypt is on the brink of a revolution that could transform American and global foreign policy for years -- a crisis that is testing President Obama and makes clear the life-and-death stakes for anyone who might think about replacing him.

And as it happens, Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, is scheduled to give a major speech Friday night at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara in honor of what would have been the 40th President's 100th birthday.

It's possible that Ms. Palin could use the opportunity to deliver a broadly conceived foreign policy speech that uses the turmoil in Egypt to advance an understanding of her national security beliefs that goes beyond her use of Twitter messages and Facebook posts.

Mr. Reagan, after all, was a one-time governor (and actor) who had little foreign policy experience when he ran for president. And yet his presidency was in some ways defined by the manner in which he confronted the changing world around him.

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The history books recall Mr. Reagan's confrontations with the Soviet Union, his push to build a missile defense system, his clandestine support of the Contras in Nicaragua, bombings in Libya and the brief war in Grenada.

Ms. Palin has likewise been criticized for a lack of sophistication when it comes to foreign policy. During the 2008 campaign, critics mocked an answer she gave about Russia so much that a phrase from a Saturday Night Live skit -- "I can see Russia from my house" -- took on an apocryphal resonance.

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In her recent book, "America by Heart," Ms. Palin begins to lay out some of her thinking about foreign policy. She repeatedly talks about the need to view America as "exceptional" and she takes issue with politicians who don't -- and she accuses Mr. Obama of being one of them.

In a chapter about her son's service in Iraq, Ms. Palin talks about the importance of freedom around the globe, and says she regrets that so many Americans do not fully respect the men and women who fight for freedom on behalf of their country.

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But despite those chapters, there is precious little known, specifically, about how Ms. Palin would pursue an American foreign policy were she to be elected president. Most of the publicity surrounding her -- often self-generated -- has been about her views on social issues or the economy.

How would she handle Egypt? Would she have sided more quickly with the protectors demanding freedom from oppression? Or would she, as some of her conservative rivals said they would have, been wary of an Islamist regime taking over in Egypt once its president, Hosni Mubarak, departs?

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So far, Ms. Palin has been mum. She has not sent out a Twitter message about Egypt. She has not posted her thoughts on her Facebook page. There have been no slickly-produced videos distributed through the Internet on the subject.

Which brings us back to Friday's dinner.

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Sponsored by Young America's Foundation, the dinner does not start until 9 p.m. East Coast time, and Ms. Palin may not start speaking until nearly 11 p.m. in the east. That will diminish the likelihood that her remarks will be widely viewed.

But the venue, and the timing of the speech coming during the height of the events in Egypt, could increase the amount of coverage that Ms. Palin's remarks receive. (Recently, Ms. Palin has given speeches to large groups that were completely closed to the press.) And the subject of the dinner and her speech is freedom -- the very subject of the anger among protectors in Egypt.

The group says Ms. Palin will "reflect on the seminal speech by President Reagan, 'Time for Choosing,' that discussed the risks and rewards before an America at a crossroads in the early 1960's. Governor Palin will draw parallels to today while calling for young people to continue the Reagan revolution into the future."

On the group's website, Ms. Palin is quoted as saying that "I am very excited to have been selected to address Young America's Foundation's Reagan 100 dinner. Young America's Foundation has been sharing the values of President Reagan with young people for more than 40 years, and there is no organization more committed to preserving freedom's future."

It is not clear yet whether Ms. Palin wants to run for president in 2012, or whether she will spend the next several years writing books, giving speeches, appearing on television and serving as a kind of Tea Party queen- and kingmaker.

But if she wants to challenge Mr. Obama, it's possible that the speech Friday night could serve as an early opportunity to define how she would differ when it comes to the world outside of America's borders.