AmbivPalince

Well, my first reaction to the Sarah Palin nomination was negative. I was speechless for a few seconds before yelling at the TV (we had CNN International on), "Doesn't anyone know what they're doing here?" I had the same objection to it that most people in the MSM (that's "mainstream media", for the uninitiated) had: nominating a less-than-one-term governor from a small (in terms of population) state undercuts McCain's argument about Obama's inexperience.

(I must say, though, that CNN, MSNBC, New York Times & Co. are falling over themselves to accuse McCain of inconsistency -- read: hypocrisy -- about the Palin pick in a way they simply didn't with Obama's Biden pick. McCain emphasized experience as much as Obama downplayed it, yet both men made picks that directly contradicted their previous rhetoric. Funny how you don't hear anything about how Biden's extensive experience, Washington insider status, or vote for the Iraq war directly contradicted Obama's positions on those issues, while all I'm reading from the MSM about Palin is how her pick makes McCain look like a hypocrite. "Thumb on the scale" doesn't begin to describe it, methinks.)

Also, I was more than a wee bit offended by what seemed to me to be transparent pandering and tokenism. A male short-term governor with Palin's conservative credentials probably wouldn't have gotten a second thought as a potential running mate. Suffice to say, I wasn't that high on the pick.

Then, after I woke up this morning (since McCain made his announcement at about 1:20 am Saturday morning, South Korea time), I started reading more and more about how jazzed up rank-and-file conservatives are over Sarah Palin. I was jazzed up about her, too -- how could I not be, seeing as how she's an obviously smart, savvy, charismatic, steely woman with tons of integrity and bonafide conservative credentials? -- I just thought she was a bad pick at this time. I'd said as much to one of my good friends, whose opinions on political matters I trust, and he responded:

Paul, you're just flat out wrong. You're not here. [The Palin] pick is energizing the conservative base in a way I wouldn't have thought possible. There is a world of difference between an inexperienced VP and an inexperienced president. Obama's attack dogs that have brought up the experience issue are being met with a smile and a variation of the phrase, "Good point. By all means, let's talk about experience. . . " Obama's attack dogs that criticize the fact that she's from Alaska are being met with an even bigger smile and a variation of, "Well, we'll admit, five years ago she wasn't a junior state senator from Illinois, or something really big time like that . . ." Obama's attack dogs that go after her small town roots are being confronted with the question, "What, exactly, is wrong with being middle class and from a small town? What exactly is so horrible about someone who hunts and fishes? Oh, yeah, that's right. Those people are 'bitter,' and 'cling' to their guns and religion." There is no way for Obama to attack her that doesn't backlash.

So maybe I was hasty in my reaction. I don't know. She might still crash and burn; she still might shrink on the national stage; she still might prove to be a great campaigner and rip Joe Biden to shreds in their debate. Time will tell. If she's even just competent, however, she seems to have already fulfilled the Hippocratic oath of running mates: "First, do no harm." If she's more than just competent (which, given her incandescent sustained approval ratings and her consistent record of getting major results quickly as governor, is not at all improbable), she could conceivably single-handily alter this race in McCain's favor, and I'll have been proven wrong. I don't have a problem with that.

That said, I still don't think I'll vote for McCain or contribute to his campaign in any way. Palin's great, and if she had more seasoning I'd gladly vote for her as president. But even if McCain-Palin wins, the administration will still be McCain's and he'll be the one calling the shots, not her. She'll be doing his bidding -- which, most conservatives seem to have forgotten, was the kind of stuff (like pushing for untrammeled immigration and unhesitatingly supporting a war that's clearly not in America's self-interest) that made John McCain so unpopular with "the base" in the first place.


Update: David Frum over at National Review Online views Palin with a decidedly jaundiced eye. His analysis is compelling, if not convincing. More food for thought.