Palin: The Unexpected Choice
Now that all of the hoopla surrounding the vice presidential pick of Sarah Palin by John McCain has passed over, I feel it necessary to give my input. I have heard CNN and MSNBC analysts describe it as a “helpful, and strategic move to gain Hillary’s supporters,” but also an “ironic and possibly hypocritical move on McCain’s part.” These have all come from the mudslinging die-hards on both sides, and from both the media and local reactions. Personally, I feel that this pick helped McCain in two main ways.
One, he may actually attract some of Hillary’s former supporters. This decision obviously took a long time to make, and I am guessing that it was no impulse choice. He made the right move by waiting to see who Obama chose, and in seeing that it was not Hillary, went for the “Hail Mary pass” as described by one CNN analyst, and chose Palin. (And I’m sure we all noticed the timing of it simply hours after Obama’s rockstar-esque speech at the DNC.)
Two, he may also get the “unintelligent” aesthetic voters who are currently undecided. Palin obviously has looks upstaging Hillary and of course Mr. McCain, and the shallow citizens out there will look at her and think, “I’d like to see some more of that.” This is only a small percentage of people, because I hope that the average voter is more intelligent than this, but some of the apathetics who may not have otherwise voted will swing in and lend a vote to the McCain-Palin ticket.
As I quoted earlier, there is one obvious and probably detrimental effect of this choice: McCain has been highly critical of Obama’syoung age and inexperience, and then chooses a running mate who has a lower number in both categories. I know that many have said that a young person may be a wise choice for McCain to compliment his old age, but I think this is taking it to the extreme. He could have at least chosen one of his former primary rivals to get the classical conservative vote he is missing, or possibly Joe Lieberman to get a stronger handle on independents.
Either way, the choice of Palin is definitely a shocker, and is going to be a hit or miss for McCain. He had better hope that there are no serious blunders on her record that will come out to harm, instead of help him.
