(Community Matters) So, first, can I say for a governor, from afar, I sorta admire Palin and her rise. I bet she’d be a hoot to share a few beers with, even a boiler maker or two. A PTA mom of 5 becomes activist, becomes mayor of a township, recently becomes governor of a 670,000 population state. The U of Idaho undergrad, Miss Alaska runner-up, Elk hunter obviously a bit scrappy, though perhaps a bit too so given the on-going trooper investigation. Nevertheless, an example of boot-strap independence and success in a state that prizes these virtues more than anything else. Too bad the McCain campaign has been distorting her position on the Road to Nowhere and her national defense experience overseeing Alaska’s national guard. This weakens her credibility as a say-it-like-it-is independent.
As a vice presidential candidate? This says so much more about McCain than it does about Sarah Palin. It reminds us who McCain is – the privileged grandson and son of Admirals, a near very last in his class Naval Academy graduate who taunted authority and surely would have been expelled except for his legacy status, a courageous fighter pilot (a la Tom Cruise who would repeatedly buzz the tower despite the rules) who served our country, and the rascal who still bets big, imagines himself invincible and routinely goes for the long shot. Problem is, his daddy and granddaddy were his backstop as a kid and young adult. Cindy’s hundreds of millions have been his backstop as a Senator. Our country and this world are the backstop if he becomes our president. And, we’ve just experienced GW who’s so close to McCain in pedigree, perspective and temperament that four more years resonates more true than most know. Can we risk relying once again on a C/D student who’s succeeded on the legacy and millions of his family & friends, shoots from the hip (or what he feels in his soul) and shuts down all who disagree with his instincts?
I do not agree with those who see Palin’s selection as a play for Hillary delegates. McCain is not dumb (intellectually lazy perhaps, but not dumb), nor are the Republican operatives who won the last two presidential elections. This is a play to the Republican base. There was little intensity to (i.e., enthusiasm for) supporting McCain from the conservative religious base. An LA Times/Bloomberg poll measured enthusiasm for McCain at only 45% versus 81% for Obama. McCain just firmed up his base in a way that’s escaping most Obama fans. Palin is red meat to a lumberjack stuck in Berkley for two weeks – creationism, anti-choice and gun rights, a pragmatist who’s dogmatically socially conservative. Admittedly, this is a Hail Mary play but most of us have been looking toward the wrong goal post while McCain sailed this one successfully into the end zone. Whether or not they can add another 4 percent of voters to existing supporters in order to win is the million dollar question, but the campaign knew they were going to lose as everything stood and if they didn’t firm up the base.
Qualified? Even the talking heads didn’t believe themselves while hitting the airwaves yesterday. Fred Thompson (come on guys, really the proxy you’re looking for?) was obviously reading his campaign prepared talking points. Giuliani’s citation of decision making as mayor of a 6,000+ township about as flat as his C notes. Cindy McCain noting that Palin lives so close to Russia doesn’t really merit debate. Alaska’s own Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, the adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard, notes that neither he nor Gov Palin have any say nor even visibility of the Guard’s national security activities.
Troopergate, Mommygate and Bridge-to-Nowhere-gate suggest that McCain overruled the more seasoned advisors and bypassed the usual vetting process. Again, his shoot from the hip, daddy admiral, granddaddy admiral & Cindy has my back mentality de ja vu of 43’s gut feel and taunts to come and get me. In the end, this is what’s likely to tank his campaign as more news breaks and/or voters assess his competence to make the big decisions.
That Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green (R), doesn’t consider Palin prepared to be governor much less vice president or president doesn’t add to any bona fides.
I haven’t figured out if party loyalty really blinds supporters when comparing Sarah’s experience to Barack’s or if they’re stifling grins. Come on, Barack was Law Review President at Harvard, a grassroots organizer in Chicago, a successful attorney and constitutional scholar, an entrepreneur (he’s made millions with his books), a successful state senator who authored bills on healthcare and ethics and has been a US Senator for nearly four years. Executive management? Who has put together and run as successful a political campaign (truly a business enterprise) employing 2,400 people, raising as much money and avoiding infighting? Giuliani’s right to comment on decision making all of a sudden comes to mind, doesn’t it?
The right’s red meat embrace of Palin as second chair to a 72-year old candidate for president who’s already suffered two bouts of cancer suggests loyalty and discipline in doctrine prioritizes over competence. Aren’t these the criteria that got us Michael Brown as head of FEMA?
Bush’s former speechwriter/columnist David Frum says, “So this is the future of the Republican party you are looking at: a future in which national security has bumped down the list of priorities behind abortion politics, gender politics, and energy politics. Ms. Palin is a bold pick, and probably a shrewd one. It’s not nearly so clear that she is a responsible pick, or a wise one.”
I didn’t understand nor could I explain to foreign friends how our country elected GW to a second term. The right’s embrace of Palin suggests it wasn’t an aberration.
Community Matters 