McCain: Palin in Comparison to Obama
August 31st, 2008I’m starting to think McCain’s vice presidential choice of Sarah Palin might go down as one of the biggest blunders in the history of elections. I’m not sure, but I think it’s that awful.
It seems like his camp has been watching too much T.V. The media has been focused for some time on how "fractured" the Democratic party is. Stories are always accompanied by sound bites from a 250 lb. soccer mom wearing a size XXL Hillary ‘08 shirt talking about how she just doesn’t know who she’s going to vote for now. The problem for McCain is that the media was focused on it because it makes for a good narrative, not because a large number of dejected voters are actually up for grabs. They’re not.
His choice of a virtually unknown female is clearly a ploy to pick up what he perceives as a large swing demographic, but I think he’s horribly mistaken for the following reasons:
1. Those soccer moms love Hillary not just because she’s female. They love her because she’s a female who has a very long track record of succeeding at a man’s game. Regardless of what you think of her politics, she’s an American success story. She grew up in a fairly typical home, worked hard as hell and got a law degree from Yale, and had a fairly successful career (including a spot on Wal-Mart’s board) before turning to public service where she was a popular First Lady and then Senator. And she did the latter half while raising a kid that, as far as we can tell, turned out pretty well.
So every night those 18 million soccer moms finish watching their TiVoed episodes of Lipstick Jungle, put the remaining half of the Cherry Garcia back in their freezer, and then go to bed and dream of being Hillary.
Sarah Palin, not so much. She’s too good looking, too young, and too inexperienced. Her only significant accomplishment is winning an election in a state that’s about as populated as Toledo, Ohio. And worse still, she’s pro-life, or as feminists call it, anti-choice. That’s a deal breaker in and of itself to most of the Hillary fans.
McCain’s best hope, all along, has not been that he could persuade them to vote for him. They won’t, even now. It’s that they wouldn’t care enough to vote at all. Insulting them won’t help.
2. It’s too obvious. The Hillary supporters were behind her because they thought she could actually win on her own merits. Palin, on the other hand, is just too blatantly being used as a token female to get their votes. That’s counterproductive to what the Hillary supporters were hoping to accomplish. In fact, it’s insulting their intelligence.
Women would still be glad to see one of their gender in the White House if she wins, but it just wouldn’t feel right this way because it wasn’t earned. It’s too cheap. It would be like losing your virginity to a hooker. Technically it still counts, but you’ll always feel a little slimy when you think about it. There would always be an asterisk next to it in America’s mind, like some feminist equivalent of Barry Bonds’s home run record.
There has to have been some Republican female somewhere who McCain could have at least pretended to choose on merits other than gender. I don’t really know who, but someone better must exist. Palin’s choice gives you the feeling that the vice-presidential questionnaire he sent out to his short list looked something like this:
3. It’s too hypocritical. So far the campaigns have come down to McCain saying Obama is inexperienced, and Obama saying McCain is George W. Bush II. But now McCain’s going to have to find a new approach, because every time he pulls the experience card some reporter or audience member is going to say "Well, if it matters so much, how come you chose a running mate who has spent more time in beauty pageants than public office?"
Still, in fairness to McCain, Palin has to at least be a better campaigner than Mitt Romney. He reminds me of a used-car salesman, except unlike most politicians, he reminds me of a bad one. Every time I heard that he was the most likely pick I chuckled a little. Anything is better than the guy who, upon seeing black people (apparently for the first time in real life) yells "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!".
Even a token female is better than that.
(I know I said no more lolcats, but I didn’t say anything about lolpoliticians)








