Palin

August 30th, 2008 Posted in Politics

I have to say, I’m just stunned. And I think I’m stunned in a non-partisan way. I just think that this is what has to be going through people’s heads is something like this, no matter what their party affiliation:

1. Who the hell is this person? What happened to Kay Bailey Hutchinson?
2. Oh, OK; I didn’t know Alaska had a female governor … why haven’t I heard of her? Oh, I see, she’s only be governor for two years.
3. Let’s look up the bio. Beauty queen. Not long ago she was mayor of a town with a population of 8,000. Wow, she’s quirky. Pink outfits. Loves hunting — her couch is covered in a bear skin. Likes to wear fur. Lots of kids, including an eight-month-old. Kids with weird names, including “Trig” and “Track” the latter somehow related to where the child was conceived. Lots of kids.
4. McCain just turned 72 and has had skin cancer. I have to be able to imagine his vice-president as commander in chief, as president. As someone either very wise or very experienced or both. Someone with gravitas. Someone who can handle foreign policy and sit at the table and hold her own with the leaders of other nations. (And he met her once?!)

I think it’s at step (4) that has many Americans, including many Republicans, will face a profound gut-check, (and for Republicans, however much they want to get on board and defend the decision). You need merely try to imagine Palin as president to be disturbed (more on why below). And again, I think the reaction transcends partisanship. Begala put it well on CNN in his attempt to describe the kind of shock that goes beyond mere politics: “as a democrat I’m happy about this. as an American I’m petrified.”

Let’s look at a hypothesis of some of the reasons behind McCain’s decision:

1. I need a woman to peel off embittered Hillary supporters
2. I need someone from as far outside the beltway as possible — anything inside of Neptune is fair game; the more eccentric and mavericky, the better
3. I need someone who shores up the base with the solid right-wing credentials that until recently I lacked — pro-life (with a Down’s Syndrome child to prove it), creationist, Buchanan supporter, hunter (with bear skins to prove it), folksy, etc.
4. Biden was attempt to out-McCain McCain and balance the ticket with a seasoned maverick; so I’m going to out-Obama Obama: so she’s 44 and inexperienced. She’s also beautiful, youthful, energetic, and exciting. The Obama campaign won’t be able to touch her on that without reminding everyone of Obama’s own lack of experience and without igniting charges of sexism.
5. I need something big; a shocker

(2) and (3) will be effective to one degree or another. About (1) and (5) I’m simply unsure. But (4) is a poison pill that hobbles every other reason — that makes the decision as a whole look like the most unprincipled, dangerous pandering.

McCain seems to believe that Obama’s inexperience makes Palin untouchable. But Obama has extremely powerful qualities that make up for his lack of experience: charisma, intelligence, depth, gravitas. And this trade-off has been tested, in a hard-fought political battle with one of the most powerful political forces in the country. Palin, by contrast, feels young and inexperienced. Replace gravitas with a quirky cuteness.

You may think that her becoming governor of Alaska belies this analysis, but Alaska is a politically eccentric state with a population about 9 times the size of Obama’s Invesco audience, and about one-fiftieth of the size of the pool of voters that tested Obama. Enthusiasm about a young and quirky governor focused on domestic affairs is much different than enthusiasm about a young and quirky potential president engaged in foreign affairs. The former is a fun experiment with local color and state budgeting. The latter is terrifying.

It’s the arrogance of McCain’s pick that is most disturbing, its contempt for the actual needs of the country. It utterly belies the notion that McCain is a man of honor who puts “Country First”; his decision is the kind of pandering that actually is dangerous for the country.

(I’ve left out other problems, such as the potential disaster that the exposure of a relative unknown to the national press, including this brewing scandal).