One of the readers, Ted, comments thus on the U.S. Presidential race, and the potential Vice-Presidential choice. Palin could be a very intriguing and bold choice by McCain — Ted is persuasive in his advocacy.
“Here’s an important piece of advice: If it looks like it’s going to be McCain/Palin anyway (and that should be a “no brainer” for Team McCain), McCain should announce NOW or VERY SOON, rather than later towards the convention. There’s currently a growing chorus for Obama/Hillary (as VP) ticket (in fact the Dems are likely aware of the Palin phenomenon). If the GOP waits while movement for Hillary as VP grows — even worse until after it is solidified that Hillary will/could be VP pick — selecting Palin will be portrayed by Dems/liberal media more as a reaction by GOP selecting its own female (overshawdoing Palin’s own remarkable assets), rather than McCain taking the lead on this. Selecting Palin now or early (contrary to the punditocracy) will mean McCain will be seen as driving the course of this campaign overwhelmingly, and the DEMS will be seen as merely reacting. And, there’s absoultely no down-side to this because even if Hillary is a no-go as VP for Obama, the GOP gains by acting early. McCain the maverick. Palin the maverick. Do it now!
There’s no reason, and actually substantial negative, in McCain waiting to see what the Dems do first insofar as his picking Palin as VP, because, no matter who Obama picks, Palin is by far (and I mean far) the best pick for McCain and the GOP, especially in this time of GOP woes. The GOP can be seen as the party of real ‘change’ (albeit I hate that mantra, change, change,), while not really having to change from GOP core conservative values, which Palin more than represents.
In light of the current oil/energy situation, as well as the disaffected female Hillary voters situation, and growing focus on McCain’s age and health, Palin is more than perfect — now.
(Perhaps Team McCain is already on to this.)”
Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, McCain, Palin, President, U.S. Presidential elections, Vice-President
June 24, 2008 at 1:00 am
I’m going to get lazy here and copy and paste my response to (presumably the same) Ted’s comment in my blog about this possibility. Hope you don’t mind.
She is a very popular governor in her state and is seen as a strong politician with a record of integrity. McCain could certainly do worse. But she is a text book Republican from a very Republican state. While I would not argue that she could be very valuable in helping to sew up conservative support for him, the general election is all about wooing independent voters. And by far the biggest characteristic she has to help gain this support is being a young woman. Obviously there are a lot of people who think that McCain choosing a woman would lock up the “Hillary” vote, but beyond this she really does not have much to offer.
Personally, I don’t think that McCain picking a woman is going to be enough to get that vote. Some Clinton supporters will never get on Obama’s bandwagon, but I think that number will be insignificant by November, and will by neutralized by the far-right Christian Coalition types who will never get on McCain’s. And I think the average American woman is not going to vote for a candidate just because he is running with a woman. Besides, Vice Presidents can help a candidate win an election, but they are not going to win it by themselves. There is almost universal consent on this; Veeps can be deal breakers, but they are never game changers.
Even if that is not the case, there are many problems with her residing on the ticket. First is the age issue. This is really a tough call for McCain, because on the one hand having a younger running mate could help negate the age gap between Obama and he, but on the other it could just make McCain seem that much older. Having a candidate younger than even Obama is really a risky gamble - certainly it could pay off, but it could also do more harm than good. As an Obama supporter, I would be the first to say age should not play a role in this election. But sadly it will, and it’s something he is going to have to take into consideration.
And with her young age also comes a lack of experience. One of McCain’s biggest attacks against Obama will his lack of experience, but Obama has held a state elected position for longer than Palin has, while she has not held any federal offices at all. It would be very difficult for McCain to make the claim that Obama’s not experienced enough to be President when his V.P. is even less experienced.
Third, she is strongly pro-life. This will significantly cut into her potential to sway Clinton supporters into the McCain camp.
There are also problems with her environmental record. She favors drilling for oil in ANWR, which is very unpopular among the national audience. She has also filed suit on behalf of Alaska against the Department of Interior for placing polar bears on the “threatened species” list. While she does claim the polar bear population in Alaska has increased, her main motivation is obviously the threat this classification may have on her administration’s priority to build a natural gas pipeline through their habitat.
Sacrificing Knut the bear cub for a gas pipeline isn’t exactly the ideal way to endear yourself to the mom crowd.
Finally, let us not forget that Alaska isn’t exactly a state in heavy contention. Though Obama is running advertising in the state, it’s highly unlikely that he is going to win it in November, and it only has three electoral votes up for grabs anyway. So securing the vote in Alaska isn’t nearly as important to McCain as, let’s say, Obama picking Rendell to secure the Pennsylvania vote.
She would be an intriguing selection for his running mate, but there’ s plenty of reason to doubt she would tilt the scales for McCain.