An Insult To Women

Here’s why McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin is great news for Obama:

• She has even less experience than Obama, having served less than two years as governor of a state with a miniscule population.  It shows McCain couldn’t possibly be serious about his single biggest message: Obama’s not ready to be president.  Game over on that argument.

• With this pick, McCain is trying to recalibrate his message to being about change and reform, not experience.  But in 2008, that’s the Democrats’ turf.  If the election is about change, we win.

• Palin is now under state investigation in Alaska, thereby buttressing Obama’s message that we need to end politics as usual.  So Palin even undercuts McCain’s newfound message of change.

• This pick is so nakedly political in its effort to appeal to disgruntled Hillary voters that it can and should be painted as an insult to women.  That wouldn’t be an easy argument to make if McCain had picked Kay Bailey Hutchinson or another woman with greater experience.  But he didn’t.

• Since Palin is a national newbie, she’s not likely to be ready for the 24/7 media circus that is a presidential campaign.  I can’t wait for her first major gaffe.

• McCain is pathetically trotting out the argument that Palin has more executive experience than Obama.  Setting aside the fact that this line doesn’t pass the give-me-a-break test, look at it on the merits: Palin has been governor of Alaska for about as long as Obama has been running his presidential campaign, an organization that’s probably not that much smaller than Alaska state government but has been under infinitely more scrutiny. 

Of course, Palin will play the family values card given her five kids and pro-life cred.  Social conservatives who have been distrustful of McCain may like her.  And maybe the McCain-Palin ticket will attract a handful of Hillary voters who were looking for an excuse to vote against the guy who beat their gal.  But that doesn’t mean Palin does more good than harm.  This pick reminds me of Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers — or, heck, of George H. W. Bush’s selection of Dan Quayle in 1988.  It’s just silly, and it comes from a position of political panic, not confidence.