McCain's VP Selection: Strategic or Tragic?

Bumped. --Craig

Crossposted at Young People For

One of my fellow YP4 Leadership Academy participants and myself attended the debate watch party last night hosted by San Francisco for Obama. We predicted that McCain would address the audience and viewers at home as "friends" (even though he should be talking directly with Obama out of respect and given that it's a debate), and Obama would share his "hope" for the country by bringing "change" to Washington. Nevertheless, additional phrases/terms were added to the pot: "Wall Street v. Main Street," "strategy v. tactic," and how about that "bracelet"?

After the debate, I listened to various analysts and read blogs and editorials representing different parts of the political spectrum. One commentator summed up the debate as a competition between experience and judgment, which is a salient point. While I honor and pay my respects to McCain and his military service as a POW, his experience doesn't necessarily guarantee he makes sound military/national defense and security judgment. His initial and continued support of the war in Iraq is a case in point.

I began to discuss the debate with my parents earlier this afternoon, and my father was already looking forward to seeing the first (and only) VP debate next week. Once again, I thought about this theme of experience and judgment. I was particularly taking a closer look at McCain's VP selection, Gov. Palin, and reconsidering if such a move was strategic or tragic?

While her identities as a hockey mom and Washington outsider might have intially appealed to disgruntled Clinton supporters and helped McCain with the "women vote," how long will the postive craze over Palin last? When will more of the public, particularly those who are eligible and registered to vote, be made aware of Palin's judgment as mayor of Wasila to bill sexual assault victims for the cost of rape kits and forensic exams? Biden, in contrast, drafted the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, in which he included "provisions to make states ineligible for federal grant money if they charged rape victims for exams and the kits containing the medical supplies needed to conduct them." McCain voted against Biden's initiative. Again, a question of judgment.

The more I listen to Palin and observe her resort back to her talking points when posed with questions on foreign policy (as in the case of the interview with Katie Couric), I worry that she would be second-in-command to the oldest first-term U.S. president.

Palin: strategic or tragic? And for whom?