The Palin Option

When McCain announced Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, I, along with millions of Americans, was shocked. After Obama’s choice of Biden, there was nothing but rumors for six straight days regarding who McCain will or should pick. Moreover, few if any of these rumors involved Palin who until now has been rather unknown for citizens outside of the state of Alaska.

To say the least, Palin was a masterful choice for McCain’s running mate. Is Palin my favorite politician? No. Are there other potential vice presidents I personally might have preferred? Yes. However, in terms of a political strategy in an attempt to capture the White House, I honestly do not think McCain could have chosen better. Palin is articulate, charismatic and she seems to share the country first at all costs philosophy that has gotten McCain where he is. You may not agree with all of her views, but she certainly is not stupid and her introduction speech was excellent. This is a progressive reformer who I can back. Also, McCain picking her has not only maintained his maverick unorthodox self, but also showed the public that voting Republican will also change the make-up of Washington by electing the first woman as Vice President. Choosing Palin was a smart choice for letting Obama knows that completely overlooking Hillary was a mistake. Obama’s biggest claim is that he represents the people in that he is a break away from “Carl Rove” politics and he was the self-made man representing some of the poorest in Chicago. However, to some extend Palin represents Americans in an even greater way that a lot of American families can relate too, especially the most hardworking of them all. Palin is conservative a mother of five who characterizes herself as your typical “hockey mom.” She also has a young child with down syndrome as well as a son who is a soldier in Iraq so she really knows what it is like to be a hardworking mother. I really do think this will encourage McCain to get some of the “soccer mom” vote that he wouldn’t have got otherwise. To be honest, I really do think that a lot of Democrats will vote McCain in November, who definitely would not have voted for a Romney or Huckabee candidacy.

The choice of Palin not only encourages bipartisan support, but it definitely helps unite conservatives. Name one Republican figure that hard-line conservatives can legitimately be happy with, while still allowing McCain to preserve his maverick image. To be honest, I really can’t name anyone outside of Palin. McCain has a lot of buddies, some of who I really like including independent Joe Lieberman; however, you as well as I know that this pick would have been political suicide for capturing the conservative base. Palin has a strong conservative philosophy also representing religious family values.

At the same time Mitt Romney seemed like the obvious choice for McCain, and I feel that most people who are unhappy with McCain’s choice of Palin are the people upset the Romney didn’t get picked. However, Romney would have been an awful pick in several ways.

First, had McCain picked Romney, he would have had to somehow resolve all of the banter that was going on during the race to the White House including the name calling. I even believe the word “pig” was used at one point. To see the vehement disagreement just YouTube the “Republican Debate Ronald Reagan Library.” Secondly, Romney is your traditional Republican, there really is not anything that truly makes him stand out from your old-fashioned hard-line conservative. Choosing Romney would signal a regression to the past Washington which is exactly what both Obama and McCain are trying to avoid. Politics as usual seems to clearly be the opposite of what voters want.

As I have mentioned before. Obama’s primary message which is “change we can believe in” is really lost with a McCain candidacy and even more so now that McCain has chosen Palin, a “soccer mom” outside of Washington beaurocratics. Yes, this was a true maverick choice, yet still a Republican choice. Palin is a progressive Replublican with a soaring approval rate. Nonetheless, I really like how perfectly the New York Times put it:
“Yet if he disregarded more conventional prospects, like former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, it might be that Ms. Palin was still the fallback from a more audacious decision that Mr. McCain ultimately eschewed.”

Politics has gotten interesting and the playing field is getting much tougher than I thought possible.