Sen. John McCain's pick of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate has energized his campaign. It's knocked the Obama convention speech off the front page and people are asking questions about who she is and what she stands for. The McCain/Palin campaign have 66 days to inform the public, but on first blush, he's done right by his base as they've turned out their pocketbooks - $3 million in one day.
Still, this campaign is far from over and the attacks are already beginning. The primary line of attack is her experience or perceived lack thereof. That's right folks, the same media that refused to address the fact that Sen. Barack Obama came from obscurity and being a community organizer to being on the doorstep of the White House within a few short years is now looking to knock down Sarah Palin, even as she is a first term governor from Alaska. Palin impressed voters with gumption more than an established record.
The Times also writes that the Palin pick was bold, but undercuts the arguments against Obama (on experience, if you need a reminder). Let's see. Palin has more executive experience than Obama or his running mate Joe Biden, but somehow she has less experience? She has less experience at the national level, but she's still a governor of a state and has to deal with all issues.
And it's not like small states haven't produced Presidential material, just ask Bill Clinton, who rose to the Presidency from being the governor of Arkansas.
Obama has been running for President ever since he first stepped foot into the Senate and has no accomplishments to his name - at least none that are his.
He's tried to take credit for the work of others though.
You would think that if Obama was so sincere about energy policy and alternative, he would have crafted legislation to address the nation's energy needs. Nope. Didn't do that.
Palin has crafted energy policy for her state and implemented it. Given that Alaska is home to significant reserves of oil and gas, she has intimate knowledge of the energy industry while still respecting the environment. She's also served as chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, whose mission is to "...assist[s] member states efficiently maximize oil and natural gas resources through sound regulatory practices while protecting our nation's health, safety and the environment." The organization also has international affiliates including Canada, the Republic of Georgia, Egypt, and Venezuela. So, Palin has executive and foreign policy experience lacking in both Obama and Biden's resume.
Obama's supporters are also attacking her gender. That goes for the media as well (which is pretty much saying the same thing since the media is by and large in the tank for Obama). Given that those kinds of attacks on Hillary Clinton drove a wedge in to Democratic party unity, watch people rally to Palin instead of away from her.
Expect attacks on Palin for being a member of the NRA, being an avid hunter, and even that she's not adhering to traditional roles because she's running for office as a woman who gave birth just a few short months ago. She has five children, one of whom is set to deploy to Iraq in September. She had to weigh those decisions and chose to run for governor. She again had to weigh her decisions and accepted the invitation to be McCain's running mate. It's refreshing that we have someone who is able to balance both their family and work life running for office.
Palin does have some warts on her record. She does believe in creationism, and if she doesn't force that view on others, I don't have a problem with it. However, the media is already bowdlerizing her comments on it to make it appear that she is indeed seeking to push creationism into the schools alongside evolution.
Jonah Goldberg has already fleshed out many of her negatives, and I noted them, including the experience issue, yesterday.
This is a truly caption worthy photo of Palin, showing her attending some event in Alaska that could have been mistaken for a Viking gathering.
Doug Ross picks through the left-o-sphere to find nuggets of information that the left deems important to derailing Palin. Particularly funny is the one about Palin's approval rating. Apparently Democrats haven't noticed that Congress's approval rating since they took over in 2006 is the lowest in history, thanks to the likes of Pelosi and Reid - obstructionists who wanted to defund the war in Iraq and thwart victory by claiming that the Surge would never work. Oh, and that happened to be Obama's position as well.
Does she make the grade? Well, yes. She does. As I noted yesterday, she's a solid pick and bolsters McCain's base while giving him new ground on which to operate. In one of the two areas in which she's weakest, that she somehow lacks experience, is one on which she can flip to a strength since she's the only one among the contenders who has actual executive experience. Managing a presidential campaign isn't executive experience, and if Obama wants to go that route, then it undercuts the fact that he's a Senator since Obama has run for President pretty much from the day he took the oath of office as US Senator from Illinois.
The other area that is a weakness - that she doesn't deliver geographically, can't be helped as she's from Alaska. She can't directly deliver a battleground state like Michigan or Ohio because she's not from those states, but if she wins over enough voters in places like Michigan or Ohio, she'll have done her job.
UPDATE:
Kirsten Powers thinks the Democrats are falling into a trap of male chauvinism. Indeed.
UPDATE:
Obama had to throw his campaign staff under the bus for starting with the attacks on Palin without first congratulating her on her accomplishments - Obama released a statement congratulating Palin following an earlier release from his campaign attacking McCain's choice of Palin.
UPDATE:
Palin's background includes being a union member. That's going to help in the Rust Belt, where Democrats take union support for granted, and whose membership has routinely been screwed by Democrats in office.
David Frum isn't excited. He thinks this was a cynical pick. Nope, just politics. And from the look of the reaction around the blogosphere, it looks like McCain got a serious spark and bounce from choosing Palin.
AJ Strata notes how the media and snarling left are denigrating Palin because she's a woman. Way to alienate half the population.
Jammie calls it a brilliant trap and notes the Obama campaign's clumsy response to say nothing of how MSNBC reacted. Indeed. MSNBC wanted to smear Palin by claiming that she was a backer of Pat Buchanan - somehow indicating she is a racist or worse. Of course, Buchanan is regularly brought onto MSNBC and other outlets to spew his garbage, including on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Pot. Meet kettle. If Buchanan is so toxic (which he is), how come Hardball and other media outlets continue to bring him on?
UPDATE:
Hey, and once, Sarah Palin wore a bikini. And even was a beauty queen contestant. There's pictures too.
Knuckle draggers beware.
Who are the misogynists? Based on their reaction to McCain's choice of Palin, I have to believe it's the Democrats.
UPDATE:
Rasmussen Reports muses on the polling data relating to Palin and how she's seen more favorably than Biden was. Such data is fleeting and can change as people get to know more about her, but I suspect that she's going to remain a likable and personable figure. That's going to count for a whole lot.
She's the ultimate outsider and takes that particular claim away from the Obama campaign, who chose the longstanding insider in Biden as his running mate.
UPDATE:
Jay Tea at Wizbang has further thoughts on the experience question, and notes that Palin was also the commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard.
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