Historic Friday...

Sarah Palin? Who? What? Why?

I try to keep myself up to speed with the who's who of politics, and until a couple weeks ago, I had never heard this woman's name. In fairness, I will reserve judgement until I can learn more about her. However, these are my initial thoughts...

I believe people vote for the top of the ticket and pay very little attention to the VP choice. However, make no mistake about it, this is bold move by McCain. He seems to be playing offense and defense with this choice.

Offensively, the choice of a woman as a running mate is going to swing some of the Hillary voters over to the McCain side. How many votes it will convert is unknown, but it will bring over some.

Defensively, choosing Palin keeps Obama's dogs at bay. Can they bring up her youth? Not without bringing Obama's youth into discussion. Can they bring up her inexperience? Not without putting a glaring spotlight on his own record. Can they bring up her gender? Not without alienating his base and bringing his race into the discussion.

Above those facts, she is a wife and working mother of five. Her husband is an Native American union worker and they have a disabled child. She seems to be the All-American girl. How do you attack that? I'm not sure it is possible without offending voters.

I will be interested to learn more about this ethics investigation though. I suspect there is not much there since McCain knew about this and still choose her, but I'm sure the media will latch onto this and try to make an issue of this drama.

We certainly do live in interesting times.

God Bless America,
EG
erik@exchangeyourgovernment.com