Some Thoughts on Sarah Palin and the 24 Hour News Cycle

From a purely political level, this is a brilliant political move, choosing Sarah Palin for Vice President. Choosing a woman plays into exactly what Dick Morris thought would be an astute political play.

But the most important thing is that Obama did not choose a woman. He needed one.
Now, John McCain can take advantage of Obama’s blunder by coming back with a female nominee for vice president. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would be an excellent choice. She’s been around for decades and is not going to start making mistakes now.

Her nomination would be a signal to American women that McCain takes their aspirations seriously, even if Obama does not.

I have previously written about the advantages of Joe Lieberman for vice president. His nomination would send a signal of bipartisanship which would be notable and would hasten Democratic defections. But conservatives would be horrified.

Obama’s failure to nominate a woman is such a glaring misstep that McCain should pounce and take advantage of it.

Take advantage of it McCain just did. Now, McCain puts the women's vote into play in a serious way. No longer is the Obama campaign the one with historical significance. Furthermore, Palin is a traditional, dependable, conservative. She is wildly popular and you can't be farther from D.C. than Alaska. (except maybe Hawaii though you get the point) This counters directly Obama's attacks that McCain is part of the D.C. establishment. She is tough and enjoys a non traditional persona. She was top level basketball player. Her husband is top flight snow mobiler in Alaska. She shoots guns. There will be all sorts of fascination with her candidacy. The beauty of this pick is that it is every bit the unconventional pick that Senator Obama's candidacy claims to be. Furthermore, it's unconventionalism is in stark contrast with the bland and conventional pick of Joe Biden. This pick is everything Obama's campaign claims to be and that's why it is so brilliant.





My problem is on a practical level. I don't think she is ready to be President. McCain just turned 72 today and I am uncomfortable with her so close to the Presidency. I firmly believe she is capable and she will with some more seasoning be more than ready. That said she has only been governor, quite succesfully but, for 2 years. Before that she was a successful mayor of a fairly small town. There is no doubt that she is a very capable politician, but she is NOT yet ready to be President. McCain is very healthy for his age but his age is what it is. Still, that matters little on political level, and politically, this is brilliant.

Now, what's really fascinating is watching the 24 hour news cycle evolve right in front of my eyes. Sarah Palin's pick now dominates the media attention, except MSNBC but that speaks for itself. By the end of the day, I doubt anyone could quote anything from Obama's speech. John McCain just pulled off a brilliant piece of political jujitsu. By holding the pick until this morning, Obama's speech went from front page news to an afterthought in roughly ten hours. This not only destroys any bounce that Obama would have gotten, but more than that, McCain is now going to get a serious bounce. The twenty four hour news cycle will follow the McCain campaign right into the Republican Convention. Furthermore, there is one other thing that Dick Morris said.

That’s what the Democratic convention has been doing in Denver. They are so anxious to run against Bush, their animosity is so pent up, that they persist in running against a man who is not seeking a third term. In speech after speech, the Democrats knock the Bush record and then add, lamely, that McCain is the same as Bush. Or they call the McCain candidacy Bush’s third term. It was no accident — or Freudian slip — when Joe Biden spoke of John Bush instead of George in his litany of attacks.

This pattern of shooting at the decoy, not the duck, gives McCain a bold strategic opportunity. He can nullify the impact of the entire Democratic convention simply by distancing himself from Bush.

The truth is, of course, that McCain is the most unlike Bush of any of the Republican senator. (When Obama’s people claim that Bush and McCain voted the same 94 percent of the time, they forget that most of the votes in the Senate are unanimous.) The fact that McCain backs commending a basketball team on its victory doesn’t mean that he is in lockstep ideologically with the president.

It's clear that McCain's convention theme will play into destroying this image. McCain will now make the case that he is the one to shake things up and that his Republican party is nothing like Bush's. If McCain does this effectively in th convention, the entire Democratic convention and theme is destroyed. If McCain is able to pull this off, then the Presidency is his.

Finally, there will be those that attack Palin's lack of experience. I have my own problems with it, but politically, this is a loser. Here is why. First, it is one thing for a first term Senator to become President. There are real problems of experience. A Vice President is not as easy to attack as not experienced enough. The job description of the VP is not altogether difficult. Second, while her experience is light, her accomplishments are rather remarkable for such a short period of time in public service. She pushed through a sweeping ethics reform bill. She has near 80% approval ratings. She was known as the barracuda while mayor for her tough nosed politics. Barack Obama points to vague concepts as his "accomplishments". Sarah Palin can point to specific pieces of legislation as accomplishments.