John McCain tried to shake up the 2008 Presidential election with his surprise announcement of Alaska sophomore governor Sarah Palin as his pick to run for Vice President.
Oh, Johnny, how things shook.
There are many troublesome issues surrounding McCain's pick for VP, the first of which seemed to be large enough to seriously hurt the Republican cause -- Palin's undeniable lack of political/governing experience.
Here's my take on the whole Palin/Gustav/GOP Convention situation:
- MANY ARGUMENTS AGAINST OBAMA INJURED BY PALIN PICK: Palin's lack of national experience and shallow political resume eliminates McCain's largest and most valid argument against Obama. Apparently Palin hasn't ever appeared on national Sunday morning shows like "Meet The Press" or traveled outside the country aside from a recent trip to Iraq. Joe Biden may be a lot of things, but no one can doubt Biden's experience on the national and global theater. Obama's experience could easily be comparable to President Bush's inexperience as a world player prior to his presidency with Biden's being comparable to Dick Cheney's.
- WANTED LIEBERMAN: It's obvious McCain wanted to bring Mr. Life of the Party, the anti-dynamic Joe Lieberman, in as his VP candidate. While picking a good friend, monotoned speaker and former Democratic VP candidate would have played well on the West Wing, it clearly didn't with Republican leaders. Therefore, Lieberman was out.
- GIMIC PICKS MAKE HEADLINES: Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota's Governor, and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney would have been safe, comfortable and extremely viable picks after being told "no" to the Lieberman plan. Alas, with Obama drawing close to 40 million viewers for his acceptance of the Democratic nomination, McCain must have wanted a bigger bombshell than Romney or TPaw-- and one that went right after the female demographic (since poor Hilary Rodham Clinton was shafted by Obama). Somehow it doesn't seem to have hurt McCain that Palin is easy on the eyes (just ask my father). By keeping people wondering if Pawlenty, Romney, Florida governor Charlie Crist or Indiana Congressman Mike Pence would be his choice, McCain may have made voters feel he cares for their state and could have brought more votes. It's common to use potential VP talk for this advantage. With the gimic pick (hey, Liddy Dole, Condi Rice or Kay Bailey Hutchinson would have been stronger female candidates), McCain may have gotten this boost in battleground states as well as sealing Alaska up in the race for electoral votes.
- INSULTINGLY PANDERING TO HILARY SUPPORTERS:Palin's selection was far too obvious in its pandering of disgruntled Hilary supporters. It's insulting to women to think they would simply vote for a woman no matter what her political stance.
- PRO LIFE POSTERGIRL BECAUSE OF DOWNS BABY: It's insulting that Palin is pandered as the bastion of the Pro Life crusaders simply because she didn't abort her five-month-old son who was allegedly known prior to birth to have Down's Syndrome. This isn't exactly a valid example of Pro Life. The Republicans are implying that a Pro Choice person would have immediately aborted that baby. My understanding of Pro Choice is that there is a choice for an individual woman in relation to abortion. It doesn't seem unbelievable to me that a mother of four would choose to give birth to her fifth child no matter the possible birth defect. As our family doctor asked us when we were pregnant with our third child: "Do you want to do that test? If you are having trouble deciding, answer this for me -- if the test comes up positive, would it change your decision to have the baby? If not, then why even take the test?" For many people, pro-life or pro-choice, that answer may be similar to ours -- we will love and take care of that baby no matter what. It didn't imply whether I was Republican or Democrat.
- VETTING QUESTIONS: Palin's surprising announcement that her teenage daughter is five months pregnant not only brings further questions into McCain's ability to carefully examine something as important as vice presidential candidate -- a process insiders apparently call "vetting." If McCain "vets" like this, perhaps it calls into question his ability to think through issues of the presidency. It gives McCain the look of a maverick, but not just in the "reform" mold, but this one more in the mold of a non-conformist teen who simply goes against the grain just to go against the grain -- not exactly what independent voters may be looking for in a 72-year-old president.
- MORE VETTING QUESTIONS: It probably didn't bring elation to the GOP faithful when, one day into the convention, Palin announced she hired the lawyer to defend her in Alaska against charges of inappropriately dismissing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan. Controversy on top of controversy at the convention isn't exactly great for this ticket.
- IS THIS PARENTING? How is it the Republicans argue Palin is an "everywoman"? Palin's husband Todd Palin is a champion snowmobile racer, a production supervisor for BP and a commerical fisherman. She is governor of Alaska and now is pulling double-duty as a vice presidential candidate. How many parents would have such family issues as a Downs child and a pregnant teen child and still agree to further themselves from hands-on parenting? It seems Palin is far from what I would expect a mother to do given the situations in her own family.
- WAS AN INDEPENDENT: Switching parties during a political career isn't a crime or a deathknell to a candidacy. Ronald Reagan began his career as a registered Democrat. However, Republican big wigs are running into spin problems each time they paint Palin as something she isn't. The most recent was as a lifelong Republican. Apparently it isn't true. It leaves voters wondering what else isn't true. This issue also brings up the "vetting" question again.
- ANNOUNCEMENTS DONE UNDERNEATH COVERAGE OF HURRICANE: I'm not a big conspiracy theorist, but I do understand marketing and working for a public relations campaign. It isn't outside the realm of possibility that GOP spinsters found it a good time to announce Palin's daughter's pregnancy after all major network anchors left St. Paul for New Orleans and Hurricane Gustav coverage. The hurricane was being blown out of proportion by all networks (including embarassing coverage by CNN and other all news channels) and it was a timely moment for Palin and her husband to release information about their daughter's pregnancy ... it was almost an afterthought on news coverage.
- FURTHER QUESTIONS: Palin has yet to go face-to-face in an interview with a seasoned national political reporter or anchor and hasn't given a press conference. Her recent schedule has been canceled until further notice and she has not been sighted in Minnesota. Where is she? Is she hiding? Certainly McCain didn't want his pick to be non-existent in the convention. This isn't good for the party or for the ticket no matter how anyone spins it.
Initially, Hurricane Gustav may have saved the McCain campaign a torrent of media coverage of the issues surrounding the Palin pick, but each day since his announcement of Palin as running mate provides more headaches for McCain.
It's my belief that McCain and GOP leadership are quickly scrambling to figure out what to do next in relation to Palin and the Republican Convention. Should he dismiss her? Should they "vet" her further and more in-depth (racing against investigative reporters dispatched to Alaska over the weekend)? Should they continue with business as usual and keep spinning Palin as a good pick?
The answer is simple.
Palin should save the GOP face and resign from the campaign citing protection of her family (ala H. Ross Perot in 1992 and Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura in 2002). It would be a bombshell to drop this resignation prior to Palin's nomination in the convention and would certainly garner unbelievable news coverage of the McCain ticket this week. No doubt, if she resigns this week, the new VP candidate would have to be someone of deep political experience and posterity. Such a scenario would keep Alaska in McCain's back pocket (he chose one of them first, after all) and give him an advantage with whichever state or demographic his new veep comes from. My guess is he would roll out Pawlenty or Romney or someone of that ilk. Hey, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani just postponed his speech another day, hmmm.
