On Palin

I thought I would be able to take Labor Day Weekend and come back and write about what it was like being at Invesco Field for Obama's speech Thursday night. But the announcement that Sarah Palin is McCain's choice for VP and the deluge of news stories introducing her to the country has led me to write about her instead. Since the announcement the race has flipped upside down. No one exactly know what impact McCain's selection will have, but I would like to offer my thoughts.

At first glance, it's a joke. Hell, at second and third glance, it's at best worth scratching your head over. It is so clearly pandering to Hillary voters that it's easy to laugh. She's a beauty queen winner for crying out loud. She has no experience that any of the talking heads would consider worthy of being president. And every few hours, a new story trickles out proclaiming to sink her -- pregnant daughter, troopergate, Ted Stevens, the secessionists. Everyone I've talked to sees right through it.

But the reaction -- albeit a predictable reaction -- from the McCain campaign to the attacks on Palin game me second thought. McCain hack Carly Fiorina came out swinging, saying the talk about Palin as inexperienced was sexist. CNN quoted Fiorina saying the following:

“I am appalled by the Obama campaign's attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin’s experience,” said Fiorina. “The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life.

“Because of Hillary Clinton's historic run for the Presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin.”

It was bound to happen eventually, but I didn't realize they would resort to that line so quickly. And while the argument is as transparent as the selection itself, it will work. It might not work on the East Coast, but that's not what they are after. It might not work with the feminists, but they were never going to win them anyway. The group it could work with are the people in the west and in the south. The people who have felt slighted by McCain for not being religious enough or conservative enough will hear the selection of Palin as a call to arms. And the victimization of her will only solidify that feeling.

Obama must be careful. He and Biden (who unthinkably described Palin as "good looking") need to think long and hard before they come out swinging. The media and the left are enjoying the apparent absurdity of this pick. They are licking their chops. But she will give the speech of her life tomorrow. She will say her daughter is off limits and the crowd will go nuts. She will introduce herself to middle America and those voters will be impressed. The pundits will go crazy for her. And when that speech is done, Steve Schmidt, Charlie Black and John McCain will have played everyone like a fiddle.