PrintSeptember 14, 2008
Palin's Experience Weapon
One of the strokes of genius by John McCain with the pick of Sarah Palin is how it lured the Obama Campaign right back into the "experience" debate. So eager to pounce on Palin's "lack of experience" compared to Senator Joe Biden, the Obots in the campaign, the mainstream media and left wing blogosphere rushed headlong back into this debate.
Oops. The McCain-Palin campaign, almost with permission from the Obama camp, is now dismissing Biden's relevance with a back of the hand and contrasting the Alaska Governor's experience with that of his holiness himself. You can bet more contrasts between being a Governor and a community organizer will be drawn. Ditto the issue of Palin getting into a governor's mansion as the CEO, not an adoring spouse. (Could we possibly discuss the qualifications of Hillary Clinton versus, say, Todd Palin?)
But I digress. As wonderfully as this trap was set, as well as it worked and as meaningful as it is to discuss, it is but one of the two foundational ways the "experience" issue can be a huge homerun for the GOP in this year of "change." In fact, with a properly redefined experience message, it can become part of "the change we have been waiting for."
Right now, the McCain camp is enjoying the discussion on the amount of experience Palin brings to the table versus Obama. And they are throwing out the "executive" word some, though not emphasizing that so much in light of McCain's career track. They sense, perhaps correctly, that McCain can maintain his experience edge with Palin and simulataneously use her career to minimize in a humorous way the double memoir existence of Obama. They should let this play out as long as it will.
But at some point, a morphing of "how much" experience into "what kind" of experience would inform the debate in a way greatly beneficial to the McCain campaign. This might have started with the Charlie Gibson interview in fact. If it is imperative that McCain run away from Bush, it should be even more critical to tie Obama-Biden to congress under Reid and Pelosi, and to the mainsteam media as part of the Democrat status quo in Washington. As low as Bush's approval numbers are, they still perhaps surpass those of congress and the media combined.
And there is no better way to make sport of congress and the media than to stand proudly behind Palin's experience that has nothing to do with Washington. It can be an easy sell that living in the shadow of the Soviet Union/Russia for one's whole life day in and day out is actually more informative than listening to Biden ramble on endlessly in the sterile confines of a senate hearing.
Don't believe it? Then please tell me how it was that Palin understood that Russia's jaunt into Georgia was about the oil, the oil and the oil long before it dawned on Obama or Biden? (McCain did get it, as shown by his Saddleback remarks.)
And frankly, her moose hunting toughness and reliance on practicality for 44 years indicates an ability to be a bit tougher and a little less suceptible to a new tone when assessing what is or is not in Vlad Putin's soul. I'm thinking she'll understand that no one "ever leaves the KGB" and not confuse the moral relationship between Russian tanks and Georgian peasants.
And while we're on the subject of oil, it is a slam dunk that Palin's outdoorsy existence in Alaska has her light years ahead of most of congress (including McCain) on how desolate ANWR is and how small the drilling footprint will be. It is fair to say that she is not only more aware of this issue, but certainly cares more about perserving her state's beauty than a bunch of beltway phonies pandering to their enviro-wacko base. (And speaking of enviro-wackos, she got rid of her private jet, unlike Al Gore!)
In fact, her understanding of energy and markets has already yeilded stunning results, as she used market forces (for the other 3 senators running on the tickets, that means the free enterprise system) to end a half century stalemate and get approval for a natural gas pipeline. T. Boone, are you listening?
She and her husband also have experience in big business as workers, small business as owner-operators, and athletics on all levels as players, parents and "team moms." With this, they'll simply understand when and where government is needed in the life of average folks and when it is not. The latter is a huge weakness on the Democrat ticket and not exactly a strength with McCain himself.
What Sarah Palin brings in experience is more non-government, non-lawyer experience than the other three candidates combined. And armed with this experience, a first cousin of common sense, she has been able to cut through the cumbersome systems of government and quickly achieve notable successes. I think a lot of America will welcome the experience debate on the axis of quality instead of quantity. Let the debate begin on the merits of taking Amtrak versus salmon fishing. The McCain campaign should welcome it.
