There’s been an explosion of commentary in the aftermath of the Sarah Palin pick, with reactions running the gamut from euphoria to despair. As the shock of McCain’s selection reverberates, every aspect of Palin’s life and career is being dissected. One common concern expressed on both sides of the political divide is that Palin may be under-qualified to assume the presidency.
In that regard, many Democrats are gleeful that the Palin choice seems to undercut one of McCain’s main angles of attack against Obama, i.e. that Obama allegedly lacks the experience to be commander in chief. The LA Times contends that McCain has decided to drop experience as a primary attack line. But Democrats should be suspicious of such an apparently sudden and dramatic shift in strategy. As any campaign hand will tell you, successful campaigns set the terms of the debate and keep public awareness focused on topics favorable to their candidate.
If the remaining weeks of the election were a referendum on hope, Obama’s team would be ecstatic. Likewise, whether or not experience is ultimately a winning argument for McCain, and despite the fact that Obama is eminently qualified to be president, there should be no doubt that as long as experience is at the forefront of the national conversation, McCain’s team is happy.
First, by centering the election on Obama’s experience versus Palin’s (which is how it invariably plays), Obama is necessarily diminished, since the #1 of the Democratic ticket is competing with the #2 of the Republican ticket.
Second, when the rightwing noise machine repeatedly raises the issue of executive versus legislative experience, Democrats are forced by the media to play defense.
Third, harping on Palin’s resume and life story rather than her policies and beliefs allows Republicans to insinuate that there is a gender component to these attacks, that her achievements and qualifications are more freely questioned because she is a woman. This is true for discussions of her personal life, marriage, pregnancy, daughter, etc. Obama has wisely disavowed that approach, sensing the potential backlash.
In the end, and perhaps counterintuitively in some people's eyes, Democrats would do well to focus entirely on Palin’s - and thus McCain's - unpopular positions on core issues. This cycle, Democrats win on the issues, which is why McCain has trotted out the old GOP mainstay, ridicule, to tarnish Obama's character and distract from a debate on the merits of their respective positions.
Contrary to the rapidly coalescing conventional wisdom, McCain is not trying to steer the discussion away from experience. He’d be thrilled if experience (and gender bias) were dominant themes in the closing two months of the campaign. He'd much rather have a character election than an issue election.
http://daoureport.salon.com/thescoop/democrats-risk-playing-into-mccain-s-palin-ploy/
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