Palin in Comparison

John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running-mate truly baffles me. Many see it as a calculated political maneuver aimed at bringing in many of those who supported Hillary Clinton's historic presidential bid. McCain calls her a "reformer" and hopes that this emboldens his maverick image, offering a Republican version of how best to bring change to Washington. It is a risky gamble for McCain, who clearly, in my view, felt the need to throw the long ball in light of Obama's tremendous appeal to those hungry for change. Below is a summary of my five main issues with Sarah Palin.

1. The Gender Thing - In 1984, Mondale thought that picking a woman might energize women voters and give him a shot at defeating a popular incumbent in Ronald Reagan. Ferraro, it might be argued, had more experience than Sarah Palin, having served in Washington and knowing a bit more about foreign policy. However, when all was said and done, Reagan won re-election in a landslide. Mondale managed just his home state of Minnesota and D.C. Ferraro did not even carry her own home state. What is more, Reagan won among women by about a twelve point margin. Now the Republicans are crying foul, suggesting that the Democrats and the media are very sexist towards Palin. Though Obama and Biden came out in defense of Palin as a strong woman with unique qualifications and insisted that her family was off limits, that did not stop the Republicans from raising the issue and the media bought into it. For all the cries about sexism, it was funny to see Republican delegates brandishing buttons that read: "Hottest VP". They cannot have it both ways. Ironically, it was also Palin herself that was quoted as saying that Hillary was whining about the treatment she was getting during the Democratic primaries. Upon being introduced as John McCain's running-mate though, Palin was quick to point to Hillary's historic efforts against all odds. This leads us to a more specific comparison of Palin to Hillary.

2. The Hillary Factor - This could be part of the Gender Thing, but Hillary's is such a unique case that it deserves its own analysis. True, Hillary is a woman and many women were energized by her historic run. However, it is insulting to many women to suggest that simply because McCain put a woman on his ticket, that they would brainlessly flock to the Republicans. Indeed, a good many may vote for McCain, especially if they are still upset about Hillary's loss to Obama - but these same women were probably prepared to vote for him now anyway, regardless of whether McCain picked Palin, Romney, or Pawlenty. Plus, some of these would-be defectors may have since been won back by the Democrats after Hillary and Bill's call to unity at the convention. True blue Democratic women, even if they preferred Hillary, will not be duped by McCain's ploy because the issues that matter most to them - healthcare, education, reproductive rights, crimes against women, equal pay, and so forth are far more important. A champion of women like Joe Biden will be far more appealing to progressive women than an arch-conservative woman on the Republican side who has been nothing short of a traitor to her own best interests as a woman. Also, Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton. If you put the two side-by-side in a debate, Hillary would appear to be the more grown-up, experienced, and capable leader that she is, while Palin would come off as the lead cheerleader at the high school pep-rally, which was the perception I got when I saw her speak in Ohio upon being introduced by McCain. In other words, Palin did not come across so much as a tough political reformer; instead, with that high-pitched peppy voice, she stepped right into all the stereotypic traps that had for so long dogged female politicians before the emergence of Hillary Clinton.

3. Experience - Sarah Palin was the mayor of a small town and has served as Governor of Alaska, a thinly populated state in spite of its geographic area, for a mere twenty months. We have barely gotten to know Sarah Palin and she will have but 67 days to introduce herself to us. While she governed in relative obscurity, we have been getting to know Barack Obama over that same time period. Not only does McCain's pick undermine the Republican argument about Obama's experience, but it helps the Democrats clarify why Obama is ready to be president. Obama's time in the Senate may not have been all that long, but he has been serving since 2005, two years before Palin even took office as governor. Since she took office, Obama has had to answer hundreds of questions about himself, why he is running for president, his experience, his views on the economy, his foreign policy judgement, and his associations with various people and institutions in his life. He has worked to connect with millions of people and inspire them. These kinds of questions haven't even been asked of Palin as of yet, let alone the toughest ones. McCain undercuts his own assertions that he wanted a vice president who would be prepared to be president. McCain and Palin have suggested that she has some foreign policy experience, given that she is in command of the Alaskan National Guard, which is not true...and that she gets almost daily briefings on the activities of the Russian government (Alaska is of course just across the Bering Strait from the easternmost tip of Russia) - also a gross exaggeration of the truth. Sarah Palin only got a passport in recent years and has visited just three countries, one of which was just a stopover in Ireland. Foreign policy experience? Give me a break!

4. Rumors and Vetting: We have heard about how McCain did not properly vet Sarah Palin and that it ended up being a hurried, last minute decision influenced by a need to do what was politically expedient. McCain insists that he knew about Palin's pregnant daughter and the current investigation into her administration. However, the vetting process, good or bad, has very little bearing on Sarah Palin herself, so it is largely a non-issue for her, though perhaps it is for McCain.

5. Palin's Acceptance Speech: Sarah Palin's acceptance speech was eaten up by the base of the Republican Party and especially among the delegates in the convention hall. Much of her speech had the tone of one written by a Rove-ian, pro-Bush idealogue. Nonetheless, her delivery was very good. For anyone who thought that she would have a "deer-in-the-headlights" moment up there, they were proven wrong rather quickly. This is a woman who has given many a speech before - and one who boasts a former career as a sports broadcaster. However, her speech was filled with outright lies about her own record and about Obama. She did not mention that she was for the "Bridge to Nowhere" before she was against it. She did not mention that she had worked to earmark millions of dollars worth in federal projects for her town and state - the very pork barrel stuff that McCain has railed against. She asserted that Obama had not brought about one single reform, but failed to mention that he was front and center on ethics reform, both in the Illinois State Senate and in Washington. She failed to mention that Obama had reached across party lines in an effort to secure loose nuclear weapons to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. She failed to acknowledge that Obama is just as interested in developing a new energy policy - one that emphasizes cleaner and alternative fuels and not one that simply relies on "drill...drill...drill" and more giveaways to the big oil companies. She mocked Obama for having worked as a community organizer, when the work he did was very important to the struggling workers and families that needed that help in those tough times. While her speech was artful and some may even argue that she is a far better speaker than Hillary Clinton, at the end of the day it was just as political and divisive as many other convention speeches - filled with too much negativity, too many lies, too many embellishments, and perhaps too much flashiness. For all McCain has blasted Obama for being a "celebrity", Palin has attained her own "celebrity" status and so in the final analysis, that makes her and her speech, regardless of her gender, not much different than any other politician.

I have always been generally supportive of women running for public office and for women office-holders. I have longed to see a viable woman get a shot at the presidency or vice presidency. Not since Mondale chose Ferraro in 1984 has a presidential candidate dared to pick a female running-mate and it was not until this year that we finally saw the first seriously viable female presidential candidate in Hillary Clinton. As much as I am generally supportive of female candidates, at this critical moment in our nation's history, I am not about to turn away from the Democrats and reward the Republicans with four more years of their terrible reign simply because they have an articulate woman on the ticket with a serious chance at becoming the first female vice-president and possibly the first female president. In this election, we will get either our first African-American president or first woman vice-president. Perhaps some will base their vote on race versus gender. That is sad. I am basing mine on change and experience. Barack Obama offers the change that I seek and Joe Biden offers the experience to inform that change. On the other hand, John McCain offers more of the same while Sarah Palin offers no experience on the national and international stage.

Sarah Palin, even if I were a woman, does not represent me...and I don't think she represents most women in America. Hillary was my woman, but she is no longer in the race. Todd, Sarah Palin's husband, may still be her "guy" as she stated in her speech. That's all good and cute, but I am proud to say that after all is said and done, Barack Obama is still my guy.