Opinionated News

John McCain’s pulled a rabbit out of his Republican hat with the choice of Sarah Palin as his proposed VP candidate.  Whoever the political theorists had been considering he would roll out as his running mate, Sarah Palin Governor of Alaska.  So was this a master stroke of genius for McMain, or a moment of mad thinking?

On the surface it’s a master strategy that could gain him a lot of voters.  I won’t say “Hillary voters” because that term in itself is starting to sound derogatory – as if these women who wanted Hillary Clinton in the Whitehouse can’t vote for the best person for the job based on ideas and experience, but only what gender they are.  However, it doesn’t hurt to pander to those democrats who are feeling a little bruised from Obama taking the Democrat nomination.  That said, is there any other reason why John McCain would choose someone who is exactly what he has been complaining about Obama; namely inexperienced.  Whilst Ms Palin isn’t running for President, as the President’s running mate, she’s still going to be shouldering a lot of political burden if they become elected.

From what I’ve seen of Sarah Palin she seems a very nice lady who has a lovely family, but this plus two years governing one of America’s outpost states, doesn’t really seem enough to balance what McCain lacks – namely someone who is going to turn around America’s finances.  Yes it’s time that a woman was more than a “First Lady” in the White House, but on this occasion I can’t help but think that this was the wrong time to make what otherwise would have been a good choice. 

Sarah Palin is a mother of 5 children ranging from 4 months to 19 years.  I can’t help but feel that this is the wrong time for her political career also.  She’s a military mom who’s very likely to have to stand back and let the military send her son into a war zone.  She’s the mom of a special needs baby.  If she’s mom first, and most moms are, where does that leave the country if one of her sons is in danger of one kind or another – military moms and special needs moms will understand how this plays out with focus. 

Overall I think John McCain played a clever card to put a woman up as his running mate, but given that the country is facing such a financial crisis, I think he needed someone who had the fiscal experience that would develop the strategies that would turn the economy around.  McCain has often been quoted as saying Obama lacks experience, and yet Obama was experienced enough to know where his weaknesses lie, and to choose a running mate that would help him run the Oval Office, and not just attract voters to put him there.