It seems a curious thing that John McCain chose a VP running mate who is turning out to be a female version of the caricature he has made of Barack Obama; i.e., a candidate utterly lacking in the experience necessary to be president of the United States, and one who represents a triumph of political rhetoric over political action.
And nothing demonstrated just how much this caricature suits Sarah Palin quite like the way she read her convention speech off the teleprompter last night – complete with cadence, inflections and facial expressions that would make an experienced broadcast news anchor green with envy.
Except that instead of Obama’s unifying and hopeful prose, her speech was replete with divisive and partisan sarcasm – more of what one might expect from a stand-up comedienne than from a VP candidate.
But I thought all of the purported apprehension amongst Republicans about “the speech of her life” reflected more media hype than genuine concern about Palin’s ability to rise to the occasion. In fact, such is my confidence in her rhetorical skills that I predicted the following about her forthcoming performance in the far more critical VP presidential debate:
[S]he is a remarkably articulate and compelling politician who I suspect will prove a surprisingly worthy adversary in debates with Barack Obama’s purportedly more-qualified VP running mate, Joe Biden. And this will be especially evident in debates on one of the most pressing issues in this year’s presidential campaign, namely, energy independence – on which she is extraordinarily well-versed.
[John McCain’s VP running mate: Sarah Palin, The iPINIONS Journal, August 30, 2008]
That said, I find all of the media focus on Palin’s family drama unfair and unseemly. On the other hand, I find the Republican spin to make Palin’s inexperience seem presidential patently disingenuous. After all, the people who are now insisting that inexperience is not a problem for Palin are the very ones who were insisting last week that it was for Obama.
At any rate, this brings me to the only genuine political issue McCain’s selection of her as his VP running mate raises, which I noted in the above-referenced article as follows:
McCain has made foreign policy experience the defining principle of his candidacy, but has now made a mockery of that principle by choosing a VP candidate who would probably be hard pressed to find Afghanistan on a map. [The woman had never traveled out of the country until last year for Christ’s sake….]
I criticized this selection as “a political Hail Mary” because it calls into question McCain’s judgment – given that he took less care in selecting this would-be president of the United States than most people take to select their housekeeper. (He had only two meeting with her, and chose her under duress because the Evangelicals in his party threatened mutiny at the convention if went with his first choice, Sen. Joseph Lieberman.) Not to mention that it makes his criticisms of Obama’s lack of experience seem fatally hypocritical.
Moreover, I hope I’m not the only one who finds it ironic that Republicans who once ridiculed the significance of Obama’s ability to deliver a great speech are now the ones heralding Palin as the next coming of Joan of Arc based soley on one speech.…
For the record, however, I think all of the emphasis on “experience” in this presidential campaign is a canard. After all, if experience mattered, Bill Clinton would never have defeated (Daddy) George H. W. Bush in 1992, and the way the experienced (Baby) Bush Administration has governed the country is hardly anything to brag about….
Meanwhile, say it ain’t so Joe!
Many Democrats have hurled indignation at Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman for appearing at this Republican convention to endorse McCain for president. But I think their indignation is every bit as disingenuous as Lieberman’s claim that he endorsed McCain based on political principle.
After all, Lieberman is a Democrat scorned and his endorsement of McCain is vintage payback. And here’s why:
Lieberman’s staunch support for the war in Iraq so enraged left-wing bloggers that they rallied behind a political dilettante named Ted Lamont to oppose his re-election to the Senate in 2006. What made this “netroots” movement against him so formidable and unnerving, however, is that almost all of Lieberman’s Democratic colleagues in the US Senate heeded the bloggers’ clarion call to support Lamont.
In the end, Lieberman defeated Lamont by running as an Independent. But he seemed hell-bent on serving revenge against Democrats with a cold smile for what he perceived as a political betrayal. And this is why Lieberman – who was Al Gore’s Democratic VP running mate only eight years ago – is supporting McCain not on principle but out of spite.
I feel obliged to note, however, that I condemned Democrats for throwing Lieberman under the bus based solely on his good-faith support for the war in Iraq. After all, he voted the party line on every other major political issue. And I found it unconscionable that erstwhile respectable Democrats were associating with bloggers who thought it fair game to caricature him in racist black face.
Therefore, imagine my dismay to see Lieberman now not only supporting McCain based solely on his support for the war in Iraq, but also demeaning Obama as “this young man” on Tuesday during his keynote speech at this Republican convention, which is only a degree away from calling him this uppity Negro.
Talk about politics making strange bedfellows….
NOTE: Sarah Palin is clearly making nice with Hillary Clinton, hoping to capture some of Hillary’s 18 million female voters for the Republican ticket. But Palin is in for a rude awakening. Because the last thing Hillary wants on the national political scene is any woman who can compete with her for the historic mantle of becoming the first female president of the United States.
Frankly, Obama should be thanking his lucky stars today because nothing will inspire Hillary’s aggressive support for his candidacy quite like the rise of Palin as a political folk hero.
Related Articles:
Sen. Lieberman tarred and feathered by narrow-minded lib-Dems
John McCain’s VP running mate: Sarah Palin
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Evelyn Houston says
To this non-American, it is ironic that the leader of the free world is so far behind in the elevation of women to the highest office in the land. India, Great Britain, The Philippines, Germany, Liberia,the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica, among others, have long achieved this milestone with little fanfare and more dignity. I must say, however, that the choice of Sarah Palin leaves plenty to be desired.