Posted by
O on Monday, September 01, 2008 2:16:19 AM
McCain's VP pick, Sarah Palin, has been quite interesting for several reasons. First, McCain did with timing of the Palin announcement precisely what Obama did not do with the Biden announcement -- he maximized media attention. Obama simply waited too long. Second, and in part what this post will focus on, is the response she's elicited from the left. Some are focusing on personal attacks; the DailyKos stands out in particular. They've gone after an angle so ridiculous and so beyond rationality as to potentially hurt themselves.
Others however, have attacked her experience. They say she hasn't had enough as governor of Alaska and more importantly, frame her lack of experience in terms of Obama's experience; that is, they argue that Obama has more experience than she does. But the comparison is flawed on the most basic level -- the race is Obama vs. McCain, not Obama vs. Palin. To make a valid comparison, Biden clearly has more experience in Washington and in politics than does Palin, but is that a good thing? Whatever happened to change we can believe in? Democrats often counter that the VP candidates don't matter too much. So why then are they attacking Palin's experience in the first place?
The bottom line is that Palin is an excellent pick. Democrats know it. The swift efforts to discredit her are their best option to defeat her and are part of politics as usual -- clearly not the change the Obama ticket has draped over itself. Even more fundamental is the observation that the closed ideology fueling the left is built upon contradictions such as these. Their philosophy can only exist with contradictions and for that reason, it will ultimately fail.