Ultimate Gimmick
| September 1st, 2008 by Robert | Word Count: 739 | Reading Time 3:00 | 2,584 views |
Now that we have had a few days to digest John McCain’s running mate choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice President, how are you feeling about it? Were you overwhelmed with excitement upon hearing the news? Did you stare at the television in shocked silence wondering who in the world did they just announce as his VP candidate? Or, were you like many of us, wondering just what McCain was thinking when he picked this seemingly unknown Palin to be the second most powerful political figure in the United States if his campaign wins the vote when November rolls around? If you had read my article about Presidential Gimmicks recently, you know that I was calling out the gimmicks being utilized to sway voters and appear presentable among other things. McCain has just pulled the biggest campaign gimmick we have ever witnessed.
Before you get defensive, I have nothing against Palin being a woman. I’m glad that our political parties are actually at a stage where women are considered capable of being President or Vice President. What this has to do with is the reasoning behind McCain’s choice. Hillary Clinton lost the nomination of the Democratic Party to run for President, but she proved that people were willing to vote for her (assuming they weren’t just voting for her last name). McCain, sensing the rising tides of change necessary to assume office, one-upped the Democratic Party by choosing his own female politician when it became clear Obama was not going to choose Clinton as his VP candidate.
McCain has been widely reported to have met Palin only once before choosing her as his running mate. Palin’s stances are very thin but she is known to be a true Republican Conservative, something which McCain deemed necessary to win various voter groups because he himself has been known to be a bit of a flip flopper on issues. Previous to choosing Palin, McCain’s campaign floated several names to the public to gauge interest. Ridge… not a chance, instant failure. Liebermann… only if he wanted to commit political suicide and hand the election to Obama on a silver platter. Pawlenty… who is that guy and doesn’t he come from the same state that elected Jesse Ventura as governor… on purpose? Romney… to many, the right choice, but is there anything particularly engaging about Romney that the media would view as edgy or a change in Washington politics?
As an outsider looking in, I’m disheartened at the choice of Palin as McCain’s running mate. Palin is nothing more than an attempt to reach for Clinton’s votes and secure the conservative vote which McCain was having trouble collecting. For months, we’ve heard McCain’s ads speak to Obama’s lack of experience as being a key reason why he should not be President. “Is he ready to lead?” Then, we are expected to embrace a ticket with a candidate that was mayor of a small town in Alaska with no federal experience and has only been Governor for only a few years? Obama was forced to choose a Washington insider to be his running mate to quell the experience issues, but McCain on the other hand outdoes them by light years… in the wrong direction.
Choosing Palin is a gimmick, and blatantly at that. I’ve never been an Obama supporter and I will not change my mind on that one. On the other hand, I’ve never been 100%, or even 75%, thrilled with McCain. The office of the President is about running this country and you have to make your choices accordingly. Obama picked Biden to shore up his ticket, McCain picked Palin simply to try and win votes. If McCain wanted to pick a running mate that put his ticket on firm ground and give the voters something to believe in, he had many other viable choices, including several women.
I’ve always been one to say that if you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain, but this gimmick maneuver has thrown me a curve. I will still vote, but I have to be shown something by the McCain-Palin ticket in the next 60 days to satisfy my disenchantment. I don’t want regurgitated political drills or toeing the line to make the party happy. I want some genuine thought out of the ticket. Our country needs change that helps us, not change just for the sake of change… and votes.
on September 1st, 2008 at 3:10 pm:
This may be the biggest or best gimmick that the presidential candidates have ever put on,but this may be exactly what the country needs at this time. Sometimes an outsider without any attachments can see things as they really are instead of some or most of our politicians that only see the color of Green.
If she has good common sense and good ethics and morals, and sticks to her guns, she will be a big asset to the middle and lower class people. It appears that she may have all of the above.
For years now we haven’t had anyone even near this position that knew how to balance their own check book. They didn’t have to wonder if they could make their next house payment or car payment. Millions of $$ in the bank!!
I may be reading this lady wrong but I don’t think that she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. If this country is looking for a change in the way things are being run, how much more of a change can we get than voting in a Rebel and a strong willed Woman.
McCain and Palin all the way in 2008!!!!
on September 1st, 2008 at 3:28 pm:
I definitely agree that we need political outsiders in the mix to create effective change. But, I’m not sure I’m willing to step so far out of the box and say that it should start at the top of the pyramid here. Yes, she does appear to be different than other politicians. One thing that is going for her is that she has never openly campaigned to be more than she currently is. She was even “surprised” to be chosen as the VP candidate.
Unassuming is something we need in our leaders and if she does pass the test over the next couple of months, I will happily punch my voter card for McCain/Palin. But, I’ve never been one to vote based on party affiliation so if things don’t work out, I’ll have a hard time voting for a ticket I view as the least evil choice among the candidates. I’ll still vote, but if that happens, I’ll equate it to going to the dentist and pay the pain price now or wait and pay a much worse pain price later.
Our candidates should invigorate our will to vote, not create a lesser of two evils option. As we have all seen though, gimmicks work. Maybe it will for McCain. If Obama is elected, maybe we should hold all of his speeches in Michigan’s football stadium. I mean 110,000 people is so much better than 80,000…