Summer CE Week #6: “McCain’s ‘Hail Sarah’ Pass”
Happy birthday, Johnny Mac! You’re 72 now, a cancer survivor, and a presidential candidate who has said on many occasions that the most important criteria for picking a vice president is whether he or she could immediately step in if something happened to the president. Your campaign against Barack Obama is based on the simple idea that he is unready to be president. So you’ve picked a running mate who a year and a half ago was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 8,500 people. You’ve selected a potential leader of the free world who knows little or nothing about the major issues of the day beyond energy. Oh, and she’s being probed in her state for lying and abuse of power.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s debut in Dayton on Friday was good political theater. She delivered a pitch-perfect speech (presumably written by McCain’s ghost writer, Mark Salter) with a panache that suggests she could be a natural on the national stage. The well-kept secret of her selection let the GOP step on the story of Obama’s boffo acceptance speech in Denver. It’s not hard to see why she appealed to McCain: her middle-class roots; her older son headed for Iraq with the U.S. Army; her opposition to the earmarked “bridge to nowhere,” which is arguably the only domestic issue that gets McCain excited. If camera-ready Palin helps McCain close the gender gap and win in November, she’ll be history’s hockey mom.
But there’s a reason that rookies rarely score hat tricks. It’s not her lack of name recognition; America loves a fresh face, especially one that’s a cross between a Fox anchor and a character on “Northern Exposure,” the old TV show about an Alaska town about the size of Wasilla. The problem is that politics, like all professions, isn’t as easy as it looks. Palin’s odds of emerging unscathed this fall are slim. In fact, she’s been all but set up for failure.
“What is it exactly that the vice president does all day?” Palin offhandedly asked CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow in July. Kudlow explained that the job has become more important in recent years. Palin knows the energy crisis well, even if her claim on “Charlie Rose” that Alaska’s untapped resources can significantly ease it is unsupported by the facts. But what does she know about Iranian nukes, health care or the future of entitlement programs? And that’s just a few of the 20 or so national issues on which she will be expected to show basic competence. The McCain camp will have to either let her wing it based on a few briefing memos (highly risky) or prevent her from taking questions from reporters (a confession that she’s unprepared). Either way, she’s going to belly-flop at a time when McCain can least afford it.
Even on energy, Palin has her work cut out for her. First she has to convince McCain to do a 180 and support drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. Her much-repeated sound bite that ANWR is only the size of the Los Angeles airport and thus not environmentally destructive sounds good, but won’t do much to counter the argument Obama made in his acceptance speech, which is that drilling is only a “stopgap” measure for achieving energy independence. Palin will benefit from very low expectations in her debate with Joe Biden, but she’s going to have to have a photographic memory for new information to avoid getting creamed.
Governors often run for president, but only after many months of prep work on what they might confront in the White House. The last governor chosen for vice president was Spiro Agnew in 1968, and he was the governor of Maryland, which is right over the line from Washington, D.C., not thousands of miles away. Veep candidates with extensive Washington experience like Geraldine Ferraro and Dan Quayle were nonetheless grilled on policy and proved a drag on the ticket when they looked unpresidential.
I covered Ferraro in 1984 for NEWSWEEK. The day Walter Mondale chose her as the first woman candidate for high office was exciting and historic. But the Queens congresswoman was quickly swamped by tough questions (especially from Ted Koppel) about her readiness for the presidency and by ethical queries about her husband, a real-estate developer. A lengthy news conference she held to answer the mounting questions did not go well.
Reporters are already winging their way to Alaska to probe what Alaskans call “Wootengate,” the story of the dismissal of former Public Safety commissioner Walt Monegan, who says he was pressured to dismiss state trooper Mike Wooten. Wooten was engaged in a nasty custody fight with his ex-wife, who is Palin’s sister. As soon as Palin was selected, the Web was already buzzing with Monegan’s claims that Palin is lying about her role in the personnel matter. And the beautifully named Steve Branchflower, the special counsel appointed by the state legislature to probe the mess, has opened a tip line for Alaskans who might know if the governor and possible vice president of the United States abused her power.
Branchflower’s investigation won’t be completed until after the election, but the facts so far aren’t good for the governor. Palin says she had “nothing to do” with the Wooten matter and that she fired Monegan because she wanted to move the department in another direction, but an audiotape of a phone conversation featuring another state official, Frank Bailey, casts doubt on her account. Because the media loves scandal of any kind, especially one involving the potential use of public power to settle private family scores, this story will prove a distraction to the McCain campaign all fall long.
It’s hard to know how many women will flock to the GOP ticket because of Palin. She is a far-right conservative who supported Pat Buchanan over George W. Bush in 2000. She thinks global warming is a hoax and backs the teaching of creationism in public schools. Women are not likely to be impressed by her opposition to abortion even in the case of rape and incest. In 1984, Ronald Reagan carried 56 percent of female voters, despite Ferraro’s candidacy on the Democratic side. The balance between work and family, always a ticklish issue, will be brought into bold relief by the fact that the Palins’ fifth child, Trig, was born with Down syndrome in April. Todd Palin, a commercial fisherman, may shoulder the bulk of the child-rearing duties in their family. But many voters will nonetheless wonder whether Palin should undertake the rigors of the vice presidency (and perhaps the presidency) while caring for a disabled infant. The subject will no doubt arise on “Oprah” and in other venues.
One way or another, an African-American or a woman will hold high office next year for the first time. That’s progress. And it’s possible that Palin is so talented that she will prove to be the face of the GOP’s future. More likely, this “Hail Sarah” pass won’t do much to help John McCain get into the end zone. He’ll win or lose for other reasons.
Before I comment on this article I would like to point out something I found amusing. Toward the end it says, “One way or another, an African-American or a woman will hold high office next year for the first time. That’s progress.” I thought this race wasn’t about race or gender. So why is it progress now if a black or a woman gets into office? Just goes to show people are not thinking about what is best for their country they are more concerned that they are politically correct. I thought that democrats most of all wanted equality, Hilary Clinton thought that a glass ceiling was holding her down. Then when it does not matter that Obama is black and Palin is a woman someone like the author of this article claims it is progress. That sort of thing irks me greatly.
I also find it amusing how people are digging franticly for dirty laundry on Palin. The investigation will not be completed until after election and thus far nothing incriminating has pinned fault on her, yet this could be a gold mine of smear, so they must find something. Why don’t the media work the other direction for a change? Granted we hear about John Edwards but it was brief. I bet if we dug deeper on some of these people we would find a lot.
First of all in response to this article i think the beginning accusations are very rude.” Happy birthday, Johnny Mac! You’re 72 now, a cancer survivor, and a presidential candidate who has said on many occasions that the most important criteria for picking a vice president is whether he or she could immediately step in if something happened to the president… So you’ve picked a running mate who a year and a half ago was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 8,500 people.” This just shows how unacceptable the media can be. I would like to point out that i am not exactly a McCain fan, but that is not how one talks about our possible future president. First of all, McCain is not the only president who has been old such as Harrison, Eisenhower, Ford and Reagan. They were all in their upper mid sixties but what difference does a few years make? I am not positive if McCain’s choice on VP was wise, we can’t tell yet but i think she strongly represents the Republican party, which is what McCain needs.
We can also look at Obama and Palin’s age. They are in their mid forties. What other presidents have been this age Clinton, Kennedy, and Roosevelt. I don’t understand what the author is scrutinizing and insulting McCain for. I think the respect in this country for our leaders needs to be evaluated. Don’t get me wrong, all of them have their faults but that is not how we talk about people possibly representing our country. I think this author was unprofessional in what he wrote.
I agree with the fact that it is hard to say if Hillary supporters will support Palin. Palin is strong headed and very conservative. This may be a shock to some of those liberal women supporting Hillary. On the other hand if they were only supporting Hillary because she is a women, then Palin stands a good chance of possibly become president.
Yes, there’s no two ways around it, raising a child with developmental problems is incredibly difficult and time consuming. However, making this an excuse to claim her unfit for vice-presidency is a low blow that will turn many away from voting for those making these claims. Palin is very inexperienced nationally; it’s a well known fact. In my opinion she is incredibly unfit to take over the presidency. If something were to happen to McCain I think our country would be in a world of trouble and we can only hope that if something did happen she would take over within the last year or less of his term so that not too much damage could be done within our country or on an international level. The use of her infant with downs syndrome as a claim she is unfit for the vice-presidency, yes it is time consuming and stressful and incredibly, incredibly difficult but I think that she should be looked at with respect for taking this on with a family and especially a child with developmental delays.
I find it ironic that whenever McCain is mentioned, his age has to directly follow. He is only 72 years old and I don’t see anything happening to him in the near future. Therefore, stop claiming that his vice president needs to be someone who can step into his place with little difficulty. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that Palin could step in and not have to much difficulty. You don’t accept the vice president position without believing and trusting 100% that you are fully capable. You can’t judge that a candidate won’t be successful just because she has only governed a small Alaskan town. Often times it is the underdog and the ones who have nothing to loose that you find out to be the most successful. Palin is calm and confident, and if need be, she could step up and be a successful president. McCain is a bright man and has many years of experience. He is not blind and he can infer what his voters and looking for and what his voters need. His choice could easily be successful and we will see come November.