Today McCain selected Sarah Palin, a relatively unknown governor from Alaska, as his running mate. McCain had a difficult choice. He needed to achieve two things with this selection. First, he needed to add "change" to the republican ticket. With McCain as #1, he didn't need to add more experience; the ticket has plenty of that (in fact, if you believe the Obama line, McCain has almost *too much* experience!). Second, he needed to rally his conservative base. McCain cannot win this election without motivating his base the way Obama has motivated his.
Most of the usual suspects in the VP game - Romney, Pawlenty, Lieberman, Ridge - fulfilled one of these critieria, but not both. Lieberman would no doubt add change and unconventionality to the ticket, but he would infuriate rather than invigorate McCain's base. Romney would energize the base, but he would reinforce the "old / rich boy" image that democrat's are trying had to attach to McCain.
Palin, amazingly, achieves two purposes at once: As a young female governor she adds instant "change" to the ticket. And as a staunch conservative with a pro-life record, the conservative value voters will love her.
Of course the democrats are still saying that the choice of Palin represents "more of the same". But let's face, it they would say that even if McCain had chosen Mother Teresa as his running mate. The Democrats can do nothing but repeat this phrase and with the number of times they mentioned Bush at their convention this week you might think that the current President is running for a third term.
But there's more. Palin has a proven record as a reformer; she ran against the old-style politics of an incumbent governor on a reform platform in 2006 (and won), she has taken on Big Oil and refused to continue the pork-barrel projects and "bridges to nowhere" that became an embarrassment for her state.
Obama, for all his talk of "new politics", chose a 35-year Washington insider for VP. Joe Biden got 9000 votes in the democratic primary, yet Obama picked him over Hillary who got 18 million votes. Then democrats then tried to frame Biden as a Washington outsider because he took the train to work. Give me a break. In the swamp of Washington politics there's hardly an older or fatter alligator than Joe Biden.
Now McCain has completely turned the tables with Palin who comes from a state about as far from Washington as possible. What's more, Palin can credibly talk about energy and drilling, two of the most pressing issues on the public's mind. Her state borders Russia, and with Putin and Georgia on many people's mind these days she will likely add more weight to that discussion as well.
Ironically, the Democrats, who put a freshman senator on the top of their list, are now jumping on Palin's "lack of experience". But let's get this straight: Palin is not running for president. Obama and McCain are running. If she could grow and learn from a President McCain, she may carry on the Republican torch in 2012 or 2016 and become the next Margaret Thatcher of the free world. That would be change we can believe in.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Crutches for the Candidate
For all the praise that Barack Obama has received during the Democrat's nomination, you gotta wonder why the party was so split and tormented in the primary season. Judging from the raves from both Clintons, Obama has no shortcomings for the presidency. Bill Clinton forcefully announced today that Barack Obama is ready to be president. John Kerry stated that Obama is a patriot and that no one should question that.
Yet a mere four months ago, the Clintons were questioning just those issues. Hillary's 3 a.m. ad asked whether a freshman senator with literally no experience in foreign affairs would be right to lead America and be commander in chief. Now the Clinton's are backpedaling faster than Michael Phelps' Beijing backstroke.
As I wrote yesterday, this is not really surprising. The Clintons cannot afford to be seen as undermining Obama's presidential ambitions, if they want to preserve their legacy. However it is striking how many crutches they have to provide him. No one would think it necessary to endlessly reiterate that John McCain loves his nation or is ready to be commander in chief. McCain's life's story speaks for itself.
The sore point is, Obama's actions also speak for themselves, but the tale is not a good one. Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers are but a few in a long list of close Obama associates that seriously put the candidate's judgment in doubt. People will ask themselves: If Obama is so patriotic, why did he sit for 20 years in a church whose pastor called for God to damn America? Sure, we would not expect all of the 8000 church members to get up and leave. But should we not expect better judgment of the man who wants to lead our nation?
I suspect the questions surrounding this pattern of judgment lapses will keep coming up. No amount of Botox can smoothen out these faults. The republicans will remind the public of this long list of questionable characters in Obama's tailwater and ask the question: Do we really know this guy? Is he who he says he is? Can we trust him to lead our nation?
Yet a mere four months ago, the Clintons were questioning just those issues. Hillary's 3 a.m. ad asked whether a freshman senator with literally no experience in foreign affairs would be right to lead America and be commander in chief. Now the Clinton's are backpedaling faster than Michael Phelps' Beijing backstroke.
As I wrote yesterday, this is not really surprising. The Clintons cannot afford to be seen as undermining Obama's presidential ambitions, if they want to preserve their legacy. However it is striking how many crutches they have to provide him. No one would think it necessary to endlessly reiterate that John McCain loves his nation or is ready to be commander in chief. McCain's life's story speaks for itself.
The sore point is, Obama's actions also speak for themselves, but the tale is not a good one. Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers are but a few in a long list of close Obama associates that seriously put the candidate's judgment in doubt. People will ask themselves: If Obama is so patriotic, why did he sit for 20 years in a church whose pastor called for God to damn America? Sure, we would not expect all of the 8000 church members to get up and leave. But should we not expect better judgment of the man who wants to lead our nation?
I suspect the questions surrounding this pattern of judgment lapses will keep coming up. No amount of Botox can smoothen out these faults. The republicans will remind the public of this long list of questionable characters in Obama's tailwater and ask the question: Do we really know this guy? Is he who he says he is? Can we trust him to lead our nation?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Hillary's great moment
Hillary Clinton's speech today at the Democratic Convention was very well done and brilliantly delivered. Hillary was eloquent, forceful and on message. As expected, she urged her supporters to rally behind Obama. She was effective in delivering this message, insisting that supporters focus on democratic ideals and goals rather than on her person.
Of course, she needed to do this. If Obama loses in November, Democrats will be devastated, and if there are even the slightest Clinton fingerprints on the Obama loss she will be held in contempt by her own party. That's why she had to be forceful and convincing tonight.
Most of the media seems to endorse the speech and agree that Hillary delivered what was expected of her. However, some say that she could have done more to personalize her endorsement of Obama. She spoke of him in somewhat generic terms and didn't distance herself from the remarks she made during the primary season, where she said he wasn't experienced enough to be commander-in-chief. John McCain is now running ads reminding voters of how Hillary described Obama merely 4 months ago.
There's a simple reason why Hillary did not withdraw or distance herself from those earlier remarks. And that is, she still believes what she said then. Clearly, she ran for President believing she was the more experienced and ready of the Democratic contenders. She did not think Obama is ready for prime time, and she probably does not think so now, 4 months later. That's why she kept her speech in generic terms, preferring to endorse a generic democrat and focus her attacks on McCain as a "surrogate" and extension of Bush. (By the way, her remark on Bush / McCain in the twin cities was politically brilliant).
Democrats chose Obama's eloquence over Hillary's experience, and now we will see whether voters will buy the Obama package. The Democratic convention so far has gone a long way to re-introduce Obama to the American public as a devoted family man, father and passionate change agent. There is probably no doubt in anyone's mind that Obama is a caring and loving father and a charismatic and talented politician. But he's no post partisan change agent, having the most inflexible liberal voting record of anyone in the senate. The discrepancy between what Obama says and what he has actually done in his rather short political life is profound. The uneasy feeling and lingering questions surrounding him will remain with the American public and I doubt any amount of repackaging can remove them.
Of course, she needed to do this. If Obama loses in November, Democrats will be devastated, and if there are even the slightest Clinton fingerprints on the Obama loss she will be held in contempt by her own party. That's why she had to be forceful and convincing tonight.
Most of the media seems to endorse the speech and agree that Hillary delivered what was expected of her. However, some say that she could have done more to personalize her endorsement of Obama. She spoke of him in somewhat generic terms and didn't distance herself from the remarks she made during the primary season, where she said he wasn't experienced enough to be commander-in-chief. John McCain is now running ads reminding voters of how Hillary described Obama merely 4 months ago.
There's a simple reason why Hillary did not withdraw or distance herself from those earlier remarks. And that is, she still believes what she said then. Clearly, she ran for President believing she was the more experienced and ready of the Democratic contenders. She did not think Obama is ready for prime time, and she probably does not think so now, 4 months later. That's why she kept her speech in generic terms, preferring to endorse a generic democrat and focus her attacks on McCain as a "surrogate" and extension of Bush. (By the way, her remark on Bush / McCain in the twin cities was politically brilliant).
Democrats chose Obama's eloquence over Hillary's experience, and now we will see whether voters will buy the Obama package. The Democratic convention so far has gone a long way to re-introduce Obama to the American public as a devoted family man, father and passionate change agent. There is probably no doubt in anyone's mind that Obama is a caring and loving father and a charismatic and talented politician. But he's no post partisan change agent, having the most inflexible liberal voting record of anyone in the senate. The discrepancy between what Obama says and what he has actually done in his rather short political life is profound. The uneasy feeling and lingering questions surrounding him will remain with the American public and I doubt any amount of repackaging can remove them.
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