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.