Sarah Palin, VP Nominee

On my way to Wyatt's Peace Day celebration at his school, I heard the announcement that John McCain had named Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska, as his running mate. I didn't mention it at Peace Day, because I wasn't feeling too peaceful about the announcement - but I've been chewing it over for a couple of hours, and need to weigh in.

Here's the deal. I think it is a cynical, cynical choice. It is a choice that actually makes me sad.

I also think it has the potential to be a brilliant political move -- it says to wavering Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters that McCain will do what Obama didn't, and name a female running mate, it gives them the hope of a woman in the presidency. Sarah Palin is a self-described pro-life woman with five kids who has a successful political career. A true working mom. And I have to respect that in her. Palin does seem to be a maverick of the type that McCain used to style himself - the pick is an interesting move back to that identity.

Even more, by picking someone from Alaska, the McCain campaign shores up what was looking like a more contested battlefield than that state usually is, and it makes it difficult to evaluate her record (we tend to ignore Alaska in the lower 48!).

And, Democrats will have to tread carefully in going after Palin - they don't want to look like attack dogs sicked on a nice woman (former beauty queen! bi-racial husband! 5 kids, one born recently, and with Downs Syndrome) , nor can they be paternalistic in a refusal to confront her (lack of) experience on the national scene.

So, a brilliant tactical move.

Why, then, do I think it is cynical? Why does it make me so sad?

Because I think it is a campaign move, not a governance move. Judging from what I've read of her record, Sarah Palin is very likely not ready to govern our nation. She certainly is going to have a hard time proving that she is. So its a political move - meant to win a presidency -- not a measured, thoughtful, determined move to govern the country.

And, it seems to me to be a move that actually uses Sarah Palin more than it honors her. There are many conservative women with excellent credentials who would have made smart political and governance choices for John McCain -- why pick one with so little experience on the national scene??

Sometimes I think that McCain is the sacrificial lamb this year - the one pushed to run and compete against the Democrats in a year that looks like it should be theirs ... he would have had a tough race against any of the likely winners from 18 months' agos beginning (Clinton, Edwards, Obama).

Now I wonder if Palin isn't the more sacrificial of the two - a young woman picked for purely expedient reasons and thrust on the national stage by a cynical and failing campaign. Apart from our policy differences (on environmental issues, for example - she is a huge friend of Big Oil), apart from those differences, I feel sisterhood for her, I'm a working mom too - and I am sorry that she accepted McCain's call.