Posted by
Daemonocracy on Friday, August 29, 2008 12:00:00 AM
originally posted on 8/29/08
There has been quite a bit of criticism of McCains selection of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. The pick has been described as "Political Panic", a "Hail Mary Pick", and even "Stupid". I disagree. The same could be said about the Obama campaign by picking Biden in response to the Russia-Georgia conflict.
I admit that when I first heard the pick I was surprised and skeptical, and her speech started off slow and shakey but like during her speech, as time goes by I warm up to her. I personally thought Mitt Romney should have been the pick, no matter what his economic status is. A successful man (or woman) should not have to make apologies for achieving the American dream. If McCain went with a woman I figured Carly Fiorina would have made a great VP because she struck me as the female version of Mitt Romney. A smooth confident talker with an expertise in economics, though I am unsure about her stance on abortion. Sarah Palin does have limited experience, no name recognition and is involved in an investigation. At the same time however, as I learn more about her, she seems like an ingenious pick. A fresh, young and female face which will appeal to the mainstream independent voter, particularly women. A pro life, pro gun and pro god record which will appeal to traditional conervatives as well as swing voters in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada and Colorado. She has a maverick reform oriented image which matches and complements McCains and most importantly, she can point to major legislative accomplishments which Obama and his supporters can not. Obamas biggest claim to fame is his 2004 convention speech, other than that we can't really point to any significant legislative accomplishments of his. Sarah Palin took on her own party, pushed ethics reform, ousted a corrupt incumbent Republican Governor and fended off a strong Demcoratic challenge in a Democratic year. She is in favor of domestic drilling but is also a conservationist having taken on the Big Oil companies and demanding they equally share their wealth. She was head of the Alaska National Guard and has executive experience where she cut the budget and turned down pork barrel projects (unlike Obama) offered to her by the Federal Government. She also has distanced herself from Republican Senator Ted Stevens, seeing him as corrupt. So she has a true record of bipartisanship compared to Obama. She has a true record of reform and taking on her own party while Obama just followed what the Democratic machine wanted him to and she has real accomplishements to point to during her limited political experience.
As for her limited political experience, The Obama campaign is playing with fire if they want to ridicule her for this because she arguably has the exact same amount as Obama himself, but with more achievement. I can see the ads already saying that Obama's ticket is backwards or that Obama and Palin would both make great VICE Presidents. It is a risky choice, no doubt, but I don't think John McCain, a man who has faced both personal and political adversity before in his life, is showing panic. He saw something in Governor Palin that he liked, maybe America will see the same. In the end, we vote for the candidate at the top of the ticket.
I would like to edit one more observation in, this pick has already been successful in the short term by all the buzz it has created. Here we are, the day after Obamas historic acceptance speech and all the blogs and media outlets are buzzing over Sarah Palin. So far it looks like this "Hail Mary" play ended up in the right hands.