"Best Hope"?

The chairman of FERC apparently thinks pretty highly of Sarah Palin:

Chairman Joseph Kelliher said the Palin plan represents - quote - the best hope for building a pipeline to bring Alaska's vast natural gas resources to the energy-consuming lower 48 states.

It occurs to me that any natural gas pipeline deal has to go through the state's executive branch and thus the governor, which makes Palin the "only hope." Logically, she's the "best hope" but this doesn't tell us anything profound or useful.

The latter half of the statement seems a bit less enthusiastic:

The Commission looks forward to her efforts on the Alaska gasline being successful and we stand ready to help to the extent we can.

Does that strike anyone as tepid praise at best? "To the extent we can"? How about something like "we'll move heaven and earth to make this happen" or "everything in our power"?

(And for the love of God, "gasline" is NOT a word!)

The language just reached out and grabbed me when I read this. Maybe not you, though.