On the Palin Pick...

I’m going to try to limit myself to this one post on the Sarah Palin vice-presidential pick, because 1). This can’t be serious, and 2). I get disgusted at the mere thought of the pick and really can’t afford to let it occupy too much of my thought. It reeks of everything that is wrong with politics: hypocrisy, pandering, cultural warfare, and a lack of seriousness about real issues. With that said, I’ll take a minute to deal with some things that are noteworthy about this choice.

As a friend of mine recently noted, you hear very few people attempt to defend this pick on the basis of policy. This pick is only reasonable in any sense, if you look at it from a purely political stand point. While this is a political pick that helps McCain in a few ways it also undercuts him in several, I think, more damaging ways. As many people have noted, this pick by McCain is really only about Palin in the sense that she was the pick, but more to the point this pick tells us a lot of important things about John McCain.

Honesty and Integrity

While I don’t believe McCain has demonstrated much of this over the past two years the pick of Palin only goes to reinforce the point. McCain’s central argument against Obama has been that he lacks the experience and judgment to be commander and chief. McCain has repeatedly said that we cannot have someone with Obama’s foreign policy judgment and outlook in such a serious time. With the Palin pick McCain has almost completely undercut his central claim against an Obama presidency (My bet is that the McCain campaign realized that argument wasn’t going to win them the election, and they had to change the playing field fast). In this context the next point is especially important for the future of the Obama campaign.

By picking Palin, McCain has made himself out to be a hypocrite and liar. The immediate instinct is to react as Obama’s communication’s director did, and talk about how much Palin is unqualified, but that is not the winning attack line, and Democrats would be wise to stay away from this as much as possible. Based on Obama’s response to the Palin nomination on Friday, he gets it, which isn’t surprising at all. One thing we’ve come to find out about Obama is that he’s much more politically savvy than people tend to give him credit for being. By attacking on the front of Palin’s inexperience the Obama campaign opens themselves up to the response that she’s qualified as Obama (which is not true). The central line of attack must be that it was not Obama who thought he lacked experience, but McCain who thought Obama lacked experience. With this pick McCain has shown that either 1. He’s a liar and Obama does have the appropriate experience, or that 2. Palin is inexperienced too, and he just picked someone who is not the most qualified. However, he can’t have it both ways. If the Dems are smart they will hammer this disingenuousness home, and leave the vetting and bashing of Palin to the press (someone has to vet her, since McCain didn't think it was important).

If the campaign comes off as looking like they’re being too hard on Palin we end right back up where we were in the primary with identity politics rearing its ugly head again in the worst way, although this time it may be tempered by the issues (one hopes).

“Country First,” down the drain…

For all the talk of country first, this was clearly a pick designed for one thing only, to help John McCain get elected. Undoubtly Obama’s pick was made to help him get elected, but it is also clear to anyone with a functioning brain that Joe Biden is capable of stepping in the absence of a president Obama and running the country in at the very least, a somewhat respectable fashion. With this pick, John McCain has thrown his own criteria aside, that he will find the “MOST qualified person to be his vice-president.” Instead a 72 year old John McCain has made the most unserious of vice-presidential picks in a time that he claims to be the most serious in American history with respect to security threats abroad. Either McCain is a hypocrite or crazy. At this point in time, I’m not sure it isn’t a little bit of both.

Reckless Decision-Making

I find the fact that Palin was never fully vetted and that John McCain had met her ONCE prior to deciding to extend her the Vice Presidency candidacy VERY disturbing. Seriously? Think about that for a minute. I’ve had more extensive interviews for entry level jobs coming out of college. Makes you wonder how he would approach the appointment of other important cabinet positions.

It has since come out that McCain wanted to throw the “long ball” and go with Lieberman as his choice. This choice, having been shot down by pretty much everyone in the party led to the choosing of Palin. Apparently McCain, being the gambler that he is, was still intent on throwing that pass, and decided on Palin based on what he HEARD from others. Even the most high up in the campaign have expressed surprise and concern with the Palin pick. Glad to know a potential future president thinks it’s fun to gamble with the future of our country. Harriet Miers anyone?

I’ll leave with this, for anyone who has ever played Madden, you consciously know there are points in the game that you make decisions that you would not make were you a real NFL coach. For instance, I’ve been known to go for it on 4^th in 8 on my own 25 yard line in 1^st quarter. While admittedly not sound decision making, it’s just a game, and at the end of the day it’s fun to take the gamble, and if it pays off it leaves your opponent deflated, but if not it’s just a game. As an NFL coach you would probably have a pink slip waiting for you at half time. I think you can see the point I’m making. With this pick McCain has demonstrated that he thinks this race is a game of Madden ’09, while Obama has consistently afforded it with the respect it deserves.

I think about the city I came from, Lathrup Village, MI. Two years ago Palin was essentially the mayor of this city. This could be the next Vice president of the United States of America.

This is a pick resting in large part on the assumption that Americans, on a national scale, don’t take policy and governance too seriously. As sad as it is nothing in the last 8 yeas has disproved this for me. Maybe for once we’ll learn from history.

Great Day!

I woke up this morning smiling. 45 years to the day of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, Barack Obama accepted the nomination of a major US political party for President of the United States. I don't have much to say in response to the Senator's speech, except, Wow! The speech had everything: strength, humility, compassion, honor, understanding, and vision. If you really understand his policies (not the mis-representation of them), and still don't agree with him, fine. But, at this point, an argument that he lacks judgment or understanding of the complexity of the issues that this country faces going forward just doesn't hold water. He has consistently passed every test put before him, and then some. Outside of being a POW what has John McCain done to convince you that he can fully grapple with the issues that face this country? His website, until recently, did not have and education policy, and still does not have a foreign policy outline. On such a historic night, we, the American people, have been afforded a special opportunity. An opportunity to exercise accountability through democracy, an opportunity to reject the politics of personal destruction, and an opportunity to believe again. Don't waste it. This was truly a remarkable day. A reclamation of hope, and a belief that our best days are ahead of us. Let's get to work!

How to respond to, "Noun, Verb, and P.O.W."

John McCain's insistence on countering any attack on his character or policies by citing his time spent as a P.O.W. has evolved into somewhat of a joke these days. McCain, who has said in the past that he prefers not to talk much about his P.O.W. experience in the public arena, has been rather quick to use it as his trump card these days. In fact it has become something of a political game to figure out how John McCain could best rebut an attack by evoking the P.O.W. card. For example:


Milk prices are too high

“This is a guy who didn’t have the luxury of milk for five and a half years -- in prison.”

We’re not doing enough to find alternative sources of energy

“This is a guy who lived in the dark for five and a half years -- in prison, with no light bulbs.”

While some in the media (Dowd) are beginning to call McCain on this, it does present a small problem for the Obama campaign, because they can't directly call McCain on this. However, I think Sullivan provides a hint as to how to respond to this tactic of McCain's. There has been some resentment from POWs who also served in Vietnam, of McCain, who they feel acts like he was the only one to experience any hardship during Vietnam. It would seem like the Obama campaign should capitalize on this by cutting an ad of down on their luck POWs with one or no home. Contrasting their situation with the celebrity of John McCain. This allows Obama to continue attacking McCain on his wealth and being "out of touch", while not undercutting his service and sacrifice for the country. Thoughts?

(A particularly pathetic, and funny, evocation of the P.O.W. defense, here.)

The Power of Repetition

This post by Ezra Klein hits on something that really bothered me during the primary season, and eventually caused me to stop watching political news shows momentarily. A good surrogate would not be doing his or her job if they didn't stick to the campaign line and repeatedly push their version of the facts. It's what they do. They are there to create the narrative most favorable to them. However, it seems to me that the job of a journalist/reporter is to challenge their assertions when not rooted in fact, and not to simply provide an outlet for the spin of the campaigns. This frustrated me to no end throughout the primaries, as Chris Matthews was the only one I saw who would repeatedly push the surrogates on their talking points, but even he relented after a point. Klein has it right, repetition is key. It doesn't mean anything if in the first minute of the interview Matthews tells you your full of it, but acquiesces thereafter to the lies. Once it stops getting questioned, it starts to become fact, no matter how untrue it is.

McCain's Age

This seems like a fair issue to raise to me. But of course, if Obama or one of his surrogates were to raise the issue Republicans would cry foul, Obama’s new politics takes a hit, and John McCain would become a sympathetic figure in some respects. So, why not take a page out of the McCain playbook? Obama’s pre-emptive statements (and rather tame ones at that) on character and Race smears that have come, and will continue to come, from the GOP were turned against him by the McCain campaign, allowing them to dominate the media cycle for several days on the topic of Race. John McCain has made many similar statements with regard to his age in attempts to try to temper some of the attacks he was bound to face on this issue. However, as much as McCain’s age is a legitimate issue, and concern, it has really yet to dominate any 24-hour cycle, post-primary season. The next time McCain attempts to deflect the age issue through humor, why not take him to task in the same way? A little feigned indignation never hurt anyone, right? “I’m disgusted by Sen. McCain accusing us of playing the Age Card! It has no place in our politics!”

Tire Gauge Idiocy

A few days ago Sen. Obama made a rather innocuous statement, when he suggested that if Americans maintained proper air pressure in their tires along with regular tune-ups then this would provide better gas mileage, effectively reducing personal demand by a few percentage points. I say the statement was innocuous because this was not a new discovery, but just the restatement of a simple fact that most of us are told when we get our first car. Per this Time article today, it seems as though if everyone were to do this we could decrease demand for gas per day, by more than we could increase the supply through off shore drilling. The catch is, one can be done immediately, and the other would take at minimum of 10 years to come online. So, given the current state of the economy, no one should be opposed to this, right? Well, apparently, Limbaugh, Hannity, McCain, and his campaign think the notion of immediate relief, unless it’s in the form of a “gas-tax holiday,” is funny. Over the past two days they’ve railed against this statement by Obama as foolish in an effort to make voters believe that this is his solution to out national energy crisis. They apparently believe it’s a winning tactic. Obama has been slow to respond to this charge until today, at a townhall, where he stated ‘"They're lying about what my energy plan is," he says. And "they're making fun of a step that every expert says would reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent. It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."’

The McCain campaign apparently believes that in some way Obama was left vulnerable by this statement, and are intent on trying to do some damage. I disagree. The facts are entirely on Sen. Obama’s side on this one, and I think it would behoove him to make it known, and repeatedly. By making fun of the tire gauge recommendation the McCain campaign has created a new line of attack that Sen. Obama and his campaign would be wise to hit very hard on. By exploiting this misstep the Obama campaign can advance two lines of attack on McCain, 1. He’s the one who is really out of touch, and 2. He’s not very smart. A few well crafted ads with the text of Republican Governors Schwarzenegger and Crist advocating for this simple tire gauge solution would go a long way. Sen. Obama must make this taunting look as foolish as he made the “gas tax holiday” during the North Carolina Primary.