By picking a young conservative woman, he allowed himself to come out ahead from a number of facets. He appeals to the women shunned by Hillary's loss in a way that a Kathleen Sebelius pick from Obama would not have, in that Hillary supporters would have been incensed by such a pick. Personally, I feel like such anger would have been misplaced, and sexist in its own right, but that is neither here nor there.
The one thing we will be hearing, and are hearing already, is just how very inexperienced she is. This is true. However, at the end of the day, such attacks on her inexperience only serve to highlight Obama's own inexperience.
Tactically, the timing, and unorthodox nature of the pick, truly have helped McCain overshadow the festivities of the past week, and especially last night. The news networks this afternoon are covering the McCain pick at least twice as heavily as they are covering the Obama speech. This is fair, as the biggest news of the day is certainly the pick of Palin.
In the end, I am just glad he did not pick Romney, or Lieberman. And I am impressed with his picking a woman, although again, it is tactically wise.
I don't think Palin is the best choice, in terms of who will bring the best resume and skill set to the job. But regarding who will best serve him in his quest to actually get elected, she has to be at the top of the list.
Of course, you'll still see me pulling my lever for Obama/Biden, but I do think that this might provide ole Macky with a significant bump. Only time will tell.
It is important to note, additionally, the continuation of the priggish nature of the McCain campaign as a whole. Despite Obama and the Democrats' continued graciousness in their attacks on McCain, and despite Obama's personal calls for McCain to cease in his attacks on his "patriotism" and his insistence that he, like McCain, puts "country first," McCain made a point today to decry the "old politics of me first and country second."
This line of attack is so unnecessary, and against McCain's previous posturing as a valiant carrier of the 'dignified politics' mantle he had espoused so well until he secured this year's nomination. Joe Klein details this nicely in this week's TIME.
So McCain the tactician gets props for his pick, though in the end you have to ask yourself if McCain the leader has followed through on his April promise to pick the person who would best be ready to take the reigns were he to suddenly congeal or his mind were to slowly degrade into a muddle of mush.
As I am sitting here watching the TV, I see a clip of Ms. Palin, today with McCain, encouraging American women to help "smash that glass ceiling" in which Mrs. Clinton had put 18 million cracks. Hopefully, the (Democratic) women of America will not just jump ship on the basis of gender, as it is so important to also consider policy positions. In this case, Mrs. Palin's stark conservative record will go against the hopes and beliefs of said women. That being said, conservative women probably are and should be thrilled, even though, really, it could be argued that the pick of such a woman is actually sexist and cynical in itself, since her best qualities seem to be aesthetic and tactical, rather than based on an extensive record. But even these very words highlight my point that such criticism only, in the end, serves to highlight Obama's own weaknesses.
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