The Palin Choice

McCain followed Obama's acceptance speech by announcing his Vice Presidential pick the next day ... I'm sure everyone has heard the name by now - Sarah Palin. Well ... I think that's a decision that took everyone by surprise, but I think it's a good thing and made for the right reasons.

Let's step back and take a look at this for a minute - John McCain turned the election on its proverbial ear with this announcement ... completely stealing Obama's spotlight less than 24 hours after he had accepted the appointment. It is an announcement that the democratic candidate still has not recovered from, and Palin is an opponent that Obama (and his camp) was completely unprepared for.

We'll start with some of her negatives -

She's young - Actually not a negative in a Vice President in my opinion, but people have called it a negative ... the Democrats, however, can't really do much with this as their Presidential candidate is only a couple of years older. Personally I don't necessarily consider Obama's youth a negative either except for....

Inexperience - Okay ... she is, in fact, inexperienced in the job of Vice President and in certain areas of federal politics ... again, in my opinion this is not a problem in a VP. Democrats are saying that it negates Obama's inexperience ... Ah ... not so fast there sparky ... experience is more important to the man in charge than it is for his second in command. The VP can learn from working with the President and as the VP has considerably less direct responsibility it is a job that lends itself to someone with less experience.

The Democrats keep saying that Obama has more experience from managing his campaign than she does from being governor ... well then what does Obama's campaign manager get paid for ... is Obama going to handle a President Manager to manage the office of the President if he gets elected?

She didn't write her acceptance speech - Well DUH! Reagan didn't write his speeches, Clinton didn't write his (or hers depending on which Clinton you're talking about) ... and guess what ... Obama didn't write his either. Political speech writers write political speeches ... the candidates (or elected official in question) may edit them a bit, add some of their own personal touches and personality to them, but the bulk of the speech is written by someone that got paid to do it.

She accepted federal earmarks that she claims to be against - This one has gotten a lot of play over the last couple of days with even Obama himself accusing the Governor of 'trying to re-invent herself' (hel-LO ... pot, meet kettle) ... the thing is, it's not an issue. First she has no control over the federal budget, and once allocated the money belongs to the state ... she couldn't exactly give it back. Secondly states should fight to get federal dollars for projects (more on this in another rant) so I don't feel that getting it is a problem ... it is up to the Senate and President to stop earmarks .... not the States.

If you want to look at her views on government budget you have to look at what she's done as governor of Alaska ... and that is cut the budget ... cutting $237 million, the second largest cuts in the state's history.

She should put her family first - Okay ... this one about killed me. The democratic party ... the party of women's rights ... of 'you can have a career and a family too' ... saying that a woman should basically stay home to take care of her family .... I feel like I'm suddenly in bizzaro world. Do they really think that people are that stupid? Do they think that the voters that they need to win over in order to win the election are going to be swayed by THAT? How about a discussion about the issues? Oh ... wait ... they can't talk about those people might become informed, and THEN they'd be screwed.

Is Sarah Palin perfect? No, I disagree with several of her overly conservative social views, but I'm less worried about that in a Vice President than I am about economic issues where I largely agree with her. She is, however, a fresh face in the race, someone not corrupted by Washington ... she brings a fresh view and a drive for cutting budgets and a strong record on ethics issues ... an area that I feel that Washington could use some shaking up on. She has certainly had the political fortitude to stand up against her own party when she felt it was what was best.

What do I think McCain's next steps should be ... he needs to link Obama to the last two years in Congress where the democratic majority has blatantly played party politics and refused to do anything on the issues; preferring instead to 'make sure that President Bush is seen as nothing but a failure' (I'm sure that's not the exact quote from democratic leaders in congress but that was the basic premise) ... all of which has lead to Congress' lowest approval rating on record.

McCain needs to point out the glaring holes (and recent reversals) in Obama's economic policies, while at the same time making the case, in 'layman' terms about his own policies. One of the key tactics of the democrats in every election is to play on people's emotion, fears and desires ... they do this very effectively ... the play on the fact that most Americans don't understand economics in the least and that any attempt to explain it will likely be considered 'boring' or simply incomprehensible.

McCain/Palin have a solid hold on the conservative vote ... but that isn't going to win them the election (just as the liberal vote will not win the election for Obama) ... the undecided voter and/or the moderate liberals (the so called Regan Democrats) are where McCain needs to focus ... show support for small businesses and show how the McCain policies will help protect them, or how the Obama policies will hurt them or leave them vulnerable ... point out that high corporate tax rates are hurting the American workers and consumers ... show how Ireland, by lowering its corporate taxes has attracted businesses, jobs, and how its economy is booming as a result. Show the increase in layoffs directly following the recent increase in minimum wage .... link Obama to the earmarks that he contributed to ....

Of course the challenge is going to be getting the media to cover such stories and prying people away from Hollywood Reporter long enough to actually get any of this through to them.