As we headed off to our first Obama rally of the general election, we were still trying to wrap our heads around John McCain's VP selection of Alaska governor Sarah Palin. This selection is awash with contradictions.
On one hand, Sarah Palin adds youth to an aging, almost moribund ticket. On the other hand, McCain may have played the youth card a little too aggressively by picking a half-term governor of a state with about 2/3 as many people (683,478) as our county in Ohio (1,068,978).
On one hand, Palin's apparent reformist bent might help balance out an otherwise hopelessly corrupt ticket. On the other hand, you can't swim through that much oil without coming out a little slimy.
On one hand, Alaska is identified in the public consciousness with positive ideas like unsullied wilderness and adorable polar bears. On the other hand, Sarah Palin enjoys sullying wilderness almost as much as she hates polar bears.
On one hand, electing a female VP would be an evolutionary leap forward for American politics. On the other hand, evolution isn't really Palin's thing.
How these contradictions will sort themselves out is difficult to predict--it may depend on how willing the Democrats are to let the public come to its own conclusions about Palin's total lack of experience and the reasons for her selection (I tend to agree with this view). The true determining factors may actually turn out to be Palin's views on issues like the war in Iraq, Social Security, and health care, and whether she really is the female Bush clone she appears to be. Where does she stand on these issues? I don't know . . . but Alaska.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment