By Carter Bundy
I woke up Friday morning following Obama’s big, grand vision for
Nothing wrong with being mayor of, say, Grants. Or
From her introductory speech to GOP press releases, it was clear they had simply chosen a woman — any woman — to try to peel off Hillary voters, but had to find one acceptable to the extreme religious right.
No experience, no how
Frankly, there’s no way — none — that even the most conservative Republican or staunchest McCain supporter can claim that the mayor of Wasilla is ready to lead the free world after less than two years of governing an entity smaller than
She has less than two years at the state level and none at the federal level. Sen. Obama had eight years at the state level, learning the ins and outs of policy and budgets as well as any governor, and will have four years at the federal level, including work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That’s on top of being a Constitutional law scholar and spending years in serious study of major national issues.
Sarah Palin? Hadn’t even left the country until a few years ago. Neither have most Americans, but most Americans aren’t about to be one 72-year-old’s health problem away from commander-in-chief and leader of the free world.
Worse, recently she said she had no opinion on
Sarah’s lack of travel, experience, knowledge and intellectual curiosity make her more similar to W than to McCain. And I think we know how well W’s lack of experience, knowledge, travel and curiosity played out.
Plenty of options
Here’s the weird thing, though: McCain could have chosen Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Or Sen. Elizabeth Dole. Or Condaleeza Rice. Or Sen. Olympia Snowe. Or Rep. Heather Wilson, for that matter. Heck, Republican Albuquerque City Councilor Sally Mayer would be more qualified with two years of state service.
All are Republican women with decent experience and familiarity with the outside world, and women who would have made a play for Hillary supporters based at least on an appearance of moderation and experience. Instead, McCain went with a woman with a ferociously conservative record to appease his base, thinking that Hillary supporters are so shallow that they’d go along.
Behind the curtain
Even her allegedly good qualities collapse under the most modest vetting, which McCain clearly didn’t do: She opposes the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” now, but as a candidate for governor just two years ago bragged of her full support of it.
She opposes now-disgraced GOP Sen. Ted Stevens and
Which leads to the biggest whitewash of all: She’s an anti-pork reformer. She worked with the aforementioned corrupt GOP delegation swipe to swipe $27 million of taxpayer money out of
She was the consummate insider ripping off taxpayers and paying some of the most corrupt politicians’ staff in
Identity politics gone awry
No, I wasn’t likely to gush over any McCain choice, but what a slap in the face to the entire nation to choose someone not even in the top 1,000 or so most qualified Republicans, or top 100 most qualified Republican women, based on (according to their own press releases) a political calculation to snare disgruntled Hillary supporters.
It’s not very different from the intellectual dishonesty of claiming Clarence Thomas was the best-qualified person to replace African-American pioneer Thurgood Marshall on the U.S. Supreme Court. There were 1,000 better-qualified Republicans, and at least 100 better-qualified African-American Republicans, but Thomas could also placate the extreme GOP religious fringes, so 41 had to put up the falsehood that Thomas was the most qualified.
The GOP has done the identity politics gimmick thing before with African Americans. It put up Alan Keyes for Senate in
What the GOP did then, as here, was grossly underestimate the intelligence and self-interest of voters in certain groups. It’s probably fair to say that African Americans and women, as with any traditionally underrepresented group, do care about seeing one of their own win office. But only — and this is key — if that candidate comes close to reflecting their values.
Sarah couldn’t be more opposed to the things many American women care about: equal pay for equal work, reproductive rights, civil rights for all, improving health care (the GOP plan? Get a better job), and improving education for all (not just for a handful by moving public-school money to religious schools).
Country First?
Either McCain has some sensational Hillary voter polling showing that a sizeable number of Hillary supporters are blind woman-only voters, or he has some scary (for him) polling showing he needed to put up a gimmicky Hail Mary to be competitive in swing states.
My guess is it’s the latter, but either way it was about politics and not about qualifications. Obama’s too much a gentleman to say it, but I will: Choosing Sarah Palin is politics before country, pure and simple, regardless of where you are on the political spectrum. Every time you hear the phrase “Country First,” think about who McCain chose to lead the free world — and why.
McCain’s first major choice would have looked small even without Obama’s big presence last week. Next to Barack’s careful vetting and qualified choice for veep, McCain’s first major decision on the way to the White House looks even smaller.
Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME in