More on Palin
August 30, 2008
The more I think about the selection of Palin for VP, the more I think that this was a disastrous decision. Having said that, I want to clarify two things about my previous post which will help to explain why I think Palin was a bad choice.
1) I am not suggesting that Obama and Palin are similarly experienced. Obama has been on the mainstage of American politics for four years while Ms. Palin got her introduction yesterday. Yes, she has chief executive experience governing a state the size of Washington DC for the last 1.5 years but she is new to primetime. Obama has overseen the largest campaign organization in our nation’s history, defeated the Clinton’s, and been the junior Senator of the fifth largest state in the US where he has had around five years to educate himself on issues surrounding international security and diplomacy. He is not new to the game. A President or VP should be ready on day one to make decisions of the gravest significance to our safety and I don’t think giving Palin three months to educate herself about the complexities of international affairs suffices to do the job. This is especially true because she was chosen for this position, not elected through a democratic primary process involving almost 40 million Americans like Senator Obama.
2) McCain has practically tied up this election by repeatedly arguing that Obama is not “prepared for duty” and lacks the gravitas to meet the global challenges to international security which are arising and demanding American leadership. This strikes me as a fruitful line of political attack.The choice of Palin portends a major shift in McCain’s justification for the Presidency. I am surprised that he has done such a dramatic pivot on the importance of experience for the Presidency when it seemed to be working fairly well. Choosing Palin demonstrates that this line of attack has been abandoned for a different kind of “change” candidacy. Palin’s first speech was filled with references to her independence, reform instincts, tackling corruption and cronyism, etc. The decision of the McCain campaign to go with Palin suggests that this election will be about “Washington big spending liberals” vs. “Reformist, small government conservatives.” I expect a shift away from McCain’s previous focus on terrorism and international security to issues around the economy, wasteful spending, and the like. This kind of campaign might have worked well in 2000 when Bush ran on similar themes however in 2008 the message of experience and security during troubled times would really have played to McCain’s advantage. As an Obama supporter, I feel like we have been given a huge gift through the forfeiture of that line of attack.
Posted by MATT 
Posted in Bi/Partisan Politics, Posts by Matt, Uncategorized
