McCain announces Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as VP Candidate
By David Fisher. Filed in life |Tags: election, mccain, obama, Palin, vote, woman
This morning Senator John McCain announced Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate for his 2008 bid for the White House. This is an interesting tactical move, and it seems that the jury is still undecided whether it was a solid decision.
Few people saw this one coming. Of all of the qualified, eligible and likely candidates, she wasn’t really up there on the list. Many people assumed or guessed correctly that Biden would be chosen by Obama, but this was a shock to many.
Palin fits the bill as a fairly standard conservative republican candidate. She’s not really sitting close to the middle like Ron Paul, Giuliani or Schwarchenegger. She has commented that she prefers Obama’s energy policies in the past, but I’m guessing that such comments will be forgotten soon.
The real shock here– and the political ploy–is that she’s a woman. The key to the past few elections has been swing voters. Many women who were pushing for Hillary, partially because she was the first viable female candidate, will likely see Palin as a win. That percentage alone might swing things in McCain’s favor if things stay tight until November.
The main downside to Palin isn’t that she’s a woman of course, but rather is her shear inexperience. Compare her to Dick Cheney, Al Gore or Biden. She holds an undergraduate degree in journalisim with a minor in politics from a fairly middle of the road university, the University of Idaho. Cheney by comparison holds a Master’s degree and was working on his doctorial studies. Al Gore went to Harvard (only school he applied to) for his undergraduate studies, then to Vanderbildt for divinity. George HW Bush went to Yale and was a Skull and Crossbones member. Biden went to law school. Basically in comparison, her education is weak.
While I don’t see it as a “huge†thing, she has no military experience. This seems to be a huge thing for conservatives. Cheney didn’t go, but both Bushes and Gore had at least some experience in the armed forces. She instead was in beauty pagents, worked as a news reporter, and just in the past few years got into what likely amounts to small-town politics. Alaska isn’t a huge population. This isn’t the governor of NY or California here.
She only has less than two years of experience as a governor. McCain’s camp has been attacking Obama on the side of little experience (Obama has been a US Senator since 2005, and in the IL state senate since 1997). I simply don’t get it. It’s all a political ploy that might work, but I have my doubts.