McCain’s Gamble Will Not Work: Sarah Palin IS No Hillary Clinton

By Brigitte L. Nacos
By selecting the 44-year old, first-term governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as running mate, Senator John McCain takes a big gamble and the wind out of the lack-of-experience sail that he flies against Senator Barack Obama. 

By selecting a woman, McCain hopes to win over those supporters of Hillary Clinton who have not lined up behind the Obama-Biden ticket. I believe that his calculation will not work. It is difficult to imagine that those who supported Hillary Clinton and her agenda could possibly vote for McCain simply because of Sarah Palin’s gender—especially not after Senator Obama laid out a Clinton-like agenda during his acceptance speech last night.

I for one wanted Hillary Clinton become the first woman president but I would have never supported her without the conviction that she has all the qualifications and the right policy agenda. A primary season in which an African-American, a woman, and a Mormon were among the competitors should do away with voting for candidates simply because of gender, race, ethnicity, religion. 

Perhaps, if Senator McCain had chosen a woman like Senator Olympia Snowe of Vermont or former New Jersey governor Christie Todd Whitman, he may have won the support of dissatisfied Clinton supporters.

But Sarah Palin who is far more palatable to the conservatives than McCain himself? Although younger than Senator Obama, she brings no change to the Republican ticket besides her gender. 

If the 72-year old McCain were to win the fall election, Palin would be a heartbeat away from the presidency in the nation of 300 million. And that with less than two years of experience as the governor of Alaska with a population of less than 700,000!

Nassau County on Long Island, where I live, has a population of 1.4 million, double that of Alaska. What would the reaction be, were a presidential contender select a Nassau county executive as running mate?

Senator McCain seems content that a person like Governor Palin who knows how to hunt moose and is a member of the National Rifle Association has the qualification to be commander-in-chief.

Or perhaps, as I heard a taking head on CNN say a few minutes ago with admiration, because as a basketball player on her high school team, she was called "Sarah Barracuda” because of her intensity.

Not exactly a testament to the Republican presidential candidate's wisdom and judgment.

Comments

[John Klymshyn]

The fact that Ms. Polin (of little public experience) is NO Hillary Clinton is not exactly an insult. I'm not sure how the number of people governed (in Nassau County, Suffolk, NY State, or the country) has any import or impact on her ability to play the role of a second in command, policy making, manager of White House staff.
Vice President has not been an important office since Kennedy/ Johnson.
I wonder how many VP's the average American can name. If Gore had not become recognizable via his documentary, would any of the under 30 year old voters even know who he was?

[Eric Chen]

Clever choice.

I don't know anything about Governor Palin, but of the two presidential and vice-presidential candidates, she's the one with the highest level of executive experience.

She also places the Democrats in the awkward position of attacking her youth and inexperience - which again, the GOP can counter by pointing to her comparatively higher executive experience - which would be tantamount to the Dems arguing against their own presidential candidate.

Any attempt to cast McCain as a hypocrite for choosing a young VP can be countered by the mere reminder that it is still McCain running for President and not Palin.

In the end, of course, it's just a sideshow. This isn't a race between Biden and Palin anymore than it was a race between Benson and Quayle in '88.

[Eric Chen]

Professor Nacos,

This just occurred to me. Looking back on my recent comment that the best prospect for a future woman President is a present woman Governor, ie, executive to executive transition rather than legislator to executive transition, the Palin pick seems like a win-win for anyone seeking the 1st woman President.

If Senator McCain wins, then Governor Palin becomes the near-automatic next GOP candidate for President, whether in 2012 (given McCain's age, not unlikely) or 2016. If Senator McCain loses and Governor Palin makes a good impression over the next 2 months, then her national profile will be elevated. In a party with few young stars (La Governor Jindal stands out as the other one), if Palin proves her chops and continues to perform well as a governor, then she reasonably could become the GOP's POTUS candidate in 2012.

If McCain wins in 2008, a VP Palin versus Senator Clinton presidential race in 2012 is plausible.

[Dmitri]

On another point, there's a striking lack of attention to Palin's and her husband's connection to Alaska's Independence Party, indeed, the greetings she sent to this group already as governor. Imagine Obama being tied to a Hawaii independence movement. Okay, AIP may be a little fringe group - but let me tell you that in Yugoslavia or the former Soviet Union all secessionist groups had absolutely negligible influence just a few years before the breakup of these countries. AIP's website includes a "Call to End American Colonialism" and programmatic statements typical of those secessionist movements that ended up successfully dismantling their home countries. And Palin's rise to glory gives such groups as AIP more visibility and legitimacy than they'd have otherwise. Given the importance of Alaska to U.S. national security, I'll be surprised if the Obama camp does not do a good research on AIP activities and use it in the debates.

[Eric Chen]

Dmitri said: "Given the importance of Alaska to U.S. national security . . . "

Highlighting that idea would only hurt the Dems, because it strikes at the argument that Palin isn't ready to take over for McCain on the world stage in the foreign policy arena. Palin already has the executive experience advantage and energy issues experience advantage over the Dems ticket. If we now establish that Palin has already been acquainted with US national security issues as governor of Alaska, then we add another experience advantage she has over the Dems ticket.

[Dmitri]

Well, it's a DISadvantage if she and her husband have supported a group that may at some point endanger US national security in Alaska, esp. next door to a resurgent Russia. If she hasn't been aware that such groups have had explosive potential in other countries, that would highlight her dangerous LACK of experience.