31st
Team McCain Takes the Lead
Team McCain Takes the Lead
Two extraordinary things have happened since Thursday afternoon in a presidential election that had been largely stuck in a narrow trading range for the past few weeks.
First, Barack Obama’s convention speech — amazingly, shockingly — set out to polarize this election in ways bound to anger anyone with a conservative instinct anywhere in their political body. No Democratic class-warfare cliche went unexpressed. No cheap attack on John McCain went unmade — and made without humor, class or grace. (How could it possibly be an effective Democratic attack to accuse McCain of cowardice in confronting al-Qaeda?) Anyone viewing Obama for the first time would have seen the most typical, ordinary, unreconstructed Democratic nominee since Walter Mondale (though with far greater political skills).
Maybe I am so disappointed because I half-believed in Obama, at least at the beginning. On Thursday night, he made nothing of his historical moment. And he purposely set out to alienate people like me. It worked.
Second, McCain’s choice of Gov. Sarah Palin turns out to be brilliant. It achieves four things:
1) Every religious conservative I have talked to since the selection is more excited about John McCain than I have ever heard before.
2) Palin is a historic pick — if elected as vice president, she would most likely be America’s first female president. Though the evangelical/hunter/beauty-contest contestant is unlikely to appeal to the hardest core of Hillary’s feminist supporters, she is likely to appeal broadly to most women, who will be undisturbed that she doesn’t fit feminist stereotypes. The left’s main response to Palin’s unconventional background has been to sneer — but a sneer is not an argument.
3) Palin has a genuine middle-class story — including a husband who is a member of the steelworkers union and a snowmobile racer — that makes Joe Biden look like the Prince of the Senate he has been for most of his life.
4) Palin perfectly fits McCain’s reform Republican narrative — her efforts to oppose the corrupt Republican machine in Alaska have been impressive and popular.
Palin is relatively untested. But I don’t think that experience will be the main issue she faces. She has more executive experience than any of the other three candidates on either ticket (which is itself rather depressing). Having worked as a Senate staffer for many years, I am not convinced that hosting hearings, issuing press releases and giving floor speeches is the most relevant kind of experience for a president. Recent presidents since Ronald Reagan have been governors for a reason (among others) — because management seems more impressive than bloviation.
Palin’s main issue will be performance, not experience. Has she risen too fast, too early, to a position beyond her skills? I have met her only once, at a small lunch at the Alaska governor’s mansion last summer. I was impressed with her likable manner and sharp political instincts. But the spotlight of a presidential campaign is bright — and candidates quickly shine or wilt.
This campaign is moving quickly — and Team McCain now seems more nimble, innovative and effective than Team Obama.
