Some More Palin Thoughts, Re-considerations

One thing that should concern Democrats generally is whether Sarah Palin can effectively out-change Barack Obama, the ultimate change candidate. For those undecided voters, Palin could well present something fresher and new and perhaps even more attractive than Obama himself. This unlikely but a concern nonetheless.

With that in mind, I reconsidered the best way to approach Palin. On the one hand, there is a strong urge to work hard to expose Palin's extremist views and lack of experience. On the other hand, what if it might be better to avoid making this election about Palin and McCain-Palin, and keeping it about McCain himself? There is no question in my mind that an election about McCain alone and not McCain-Palin is better for Obama and the Democrats. The reason? Palin is much more attractive and likeable, and by herself, she will only buoy the GOP ticket.

Consequently, it might be wise for Team Obama to respond to Palin with a two-pronged approach: bringing stern, but not overly-nasty attention to Palin, but keeping fire focused on John McCain himself. The smart thing to do may be to (1) hit Palin for her extremism instead of her lack of experience (as that latter line of argument opens Obama up to criticism AND it could come across as sexist bullying), and (2) keep fire on McCain alone. If Obama can keep the election about Obama vs. McCain, he is still favored. Adding Palin to the equation in any serious way can only make the McCain ticket more attractive, at least when and until Palin is better defined in a negative way for voters.

One more thing. I strongly disagree with the argument that having a minimal Republican convention will end up helping McCain. There are good reasons for this position, as not having Bush and Cheney giving national speeches will not weigh down McCain. Furthermore, letting McCain go to Mississippi and maybe Louisiana could help raise not only McCain's favorables, but the broad lasting perception that Bush and the GOP did an awful job in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

These are very fair points, and surely McCain had little choice but to scale down the convention. However, this overall argument is mainly wishful thinking. On its face, a national convention guarantees several days of prime, continuous, and positive coverage of your ticket and your ticket alone. The other side falls by the wayside, as last week's coverage of the Democratic convention demonstrated. Losing that stream of glowing coverage is never a good thing. Being able to have some (bs) photo-ops re: Hurrican Gustav is nice, but it will be through a handful of 30 second news reels. This is not nearly as valuable as a big convention sucking out all the political media oxygen. Bush or no Bush. Besides, even though having Bush/Cheney on national TV on the podium at St. Paul was a painful prospect Team McCain could not avoid, what is one more Bush speech to a country that has seen him every day for eight plus years?