On the Pow Wow Highway
The boys and I are in Tahlequah, Indian Territory for the Cherokee National Holiday. Apparently, there's been some news...McCain's choice of Governor Sarah Palin strikes me as a huge gamble, trading his best argument against Obama (experience or the lack thereof) for the hope that disgruntled Hillary voters are A) still disgruntled; and B) are disgruntled enough to vote for ANY woman, even one who is Hillary's complete polar opposite on nearly all issues. So, far, seems not to be working too well. I'm not the only one who thinks Palin was picked because every other viable Republican woman was unavailable or uninterested in deck chair duty on the Titanic. Interestingly, one of my most trusted political pundits (who has been EXTREMELY pessimistic about Obama) had this first impression: "McCain just lost."
posted by The Local Crank | 8:27 PM
2 Comments:
I agree that Palin was a huge gamble, as well as an obvious (and almost certainly futile) ploy for Hillary voters, but I think it was a smart move for McCain. Quite the opposite of what your friend said, I think it keeps him alive in this election. This has been and continues to be Obama's election to lose, and the Republicans--quite literally in spite of themselves, and their every effort to the contrary--have ended up with about the only conceivable ticket that has some appeal to non-GOP voters.
Granted, Palin could turn out to be another Dan Quayle if McCain gets elected, or she could turn out to be another Harry Truman, who was a political nobody when FDR picked him in 1944. You just never know.
The ironic thing about the criticism of her "lack of experience" is that Palin's six years as mayor and two years as governor, no matter how small the populations of Wasilla and Alaska, are STILL eight years more executive experience than Obama, Biden OR McCain have. There's a good reason why Americans have only ever elected two senators directly to the White House before this year--because most senators have never been in charge of anything larger than a senate office. Hardly the kind of leadership experience that inspires confidence when being considered for chief executive of the world's most powerful nation.
Personally, for this reason and others, I think McCain is probably salivating at the thought of the Obama team making Palin's experience a major issue in this campaign. It could easily backfire on them.
Or Palin could misspell "potato" and end the campaign tomorrow. Who knows. But for now I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. And I for one feel fortunate that this campaign includes a black man, a combat veteran and two VP candidates who both have sons in or going to Iraq. This is a far more inspiring combination of candidates and backgrounds than I have seen in my lifetime, and I'm genuinely thankful for it. I hope they all come out of this campaign with their reputations intact and their heads held high, win or lose.
regarding last sentence of post:8/31/2008 9:22 PM from eric, yes,that might happen(if the media buys em a neckbrace)
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