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Reading through Palin's various interviews last night, I'm struck by how few opinions she appears to have uttered on topics with any national relevance. Of 20 or so interviews I found, the bulk of them, in national and Alaskan media, are about drilling in ANWR. Drilling in ANWR. Drilling in ANWR. She's going to be fine talking about drilling in ANWR. But so far as I can tell, she's not faced down national media on literally anything else.I think Palin may be a good enough political choice, and I certainly think her convention speech, focusing on her disabled child and time fighting corruption, will be moving and appealing. But running on a national ticket is a grueling process, with hundreds of opportunities for high profile mistake and missteps every single day (see Fallows on this). She's going to get questioned on issues she doesn't fully know or understand, and grilled in ways she's completely unused to, and she's not going to commit a gaffe. A gaffe is when you misspeak. She simply won't know the answer. And that will be much more damaging. Because at the end of the day, McCain's VP pick is more important than most because it's likelier to come into play than most. And now even they're saying she's not ready:
"[Sarah Palin is] going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years, and most doctors think that he'll be around at least that long," said Charlie Black, one of Mr. McCain's top advisers.And if he's not? If the master must leave before the pupil is prepared? Well, I guess we can hope that Noah Millman -- a Palin enthusiast! -- is right about this:
I realize, of course, that she’s totally unqualified to be President at this point in time. If McCain were to die in February 2009, I hope Palin would have the good sense to appoint someone who is more ready to be President to be her Vice President, on the understanding that she would then resign and be appointed Vice President by her successor. (Lest anyone say that this is an absurd, unconstitutional or undemocratic scenario, recognize that this is pretty much what would happen in a Parliamentary system where, if the head of government dies, a successor is chosen by the party.) Palin is absolutely not ready to be President now, but that is a problem that is very easily dealt with if she is and the governing party want to do so.So the McCain campaign is saying they just brought on a vice president who they'll treat as a national security intern and McCain's supporters are asserting that Palin is so unqualified that if McCain were to die in the next year or two she'd obviously appoint someone else to be president (incidentally, I don't think the VP has the power to "appoint" the president [sorry, to be clearer: The Democratic Senate would have to confirm this person, Palin, couldn't just do this on her own]). With friends like these...Meanwhile, McCain is on record, on tape, saying that his main criteria for vice president will be finding the person "most qualified" to assume the presidency. This question strikes right at the heart of his claim to "superior judgment" and a grave, dignified approach to national affairs. This was not the pick of a man who takes seriously the need for experience, knowledgeable leadership in a moment of global turmoil. This is a pick that suggests the stakes aren't that high, and that most any talented politician can do the job. It's the basic problem with Palin: She destroys his message. And it's throwing his supporters into very odd contortions. Over at The American Scene, Jim Treacher writes, "Putting aside the humor value of a child like Ezra Klein pontificating on the lack of experience in a woman nearly twice his age." This blogger tries a similar approach. So is the new argument that Palin is more experienced than a 24-year-old blogger? Because if so, it's true! But when you're backed into prosecuting that point, you're really in bad shape.
