Was Palin the Right Choice?

In the pre-post-mortem that many are participating in concerning McCain/Palin, I thought I would reflect over what the pundits are saying contributed to McCain's demise. (Although, while it appears Obama is headed to victory, the polls are closing quickly. Over the past week the average poll has gone from Obama up 7.5% to now Obama up 5%. So, yet again, Obama is failing to close.) The first issue is the selection of Sarah Palin as VP. Before I discuss that, it should be noted what the true possible demise of the McCain campaign is. It has nothing to do with Palin, the negative ads, McCain's age, etc. What will be McCain's downfall is a shattered economy, the Bush presidency, and the Iraq War, of which McCain is not directly responsible for any of it, but receives the blame because of the R next to his name. But on to Palin…

The general argument against Palin is as follows (which by the way is what I predicted here): no experience, not intellectually capable, too conservative, no one has ever heard of her before. While I could refute each of these claims, the simple fact of the matter is: Palin was and still is the best choice that McCain could make for VP, and if given the chance, she would make a great VP. Why is she the best choice? Because campaigns are all about turnout. And McCain was having a turnout issue. The selection of Palin: highly enthused the conservative base, a strong turnout of which is essential for McCain to have any shot at all; brought increased attention/money to McCain that he otherwise wouldn't have had; resonates with many in the heartland of America as someone not tainted by Washington; fought her own corrupt party and won. Many voters went from voting against Obama to voting for McCain because of Palin. Turnout is always better when someone is excited to be voting for someone rather than against another. There was no other available selection that McCain could have made that would have done more for his campaign than Palin has. Let's review:

Mitt Romney - no independents would be voting for Romney, he does not resonate with middle class America , and the conservative base would not be energized by a Romney selection. While he is a favorite of talk radio hosts, he had been rejected by Republicans in the primary.

Tim Pawlenty - please. He seems like a nice guy, but I don’t think anyone at all would have been enthused by his selection. He would have received about 5 minutes worth of coverage and then would have disappeared. Turn out would not have been increased by Pawlenty at all.

Charlie Crist - He may have helped deliver Florida , but I am not sure he would have brought anything more to the ticket.

Kay Bailey Hutchison - My second choice, but while she may have appealed to the Hillary voter, I think many in the Republican base would have been put off by her, fair or not, and she wouldn’t have reinforced McCain's reform message.

Joe Lieberman - This is the pick many pundits say McCain should have made. It would have been a disaster. McCain would be out of money, the crowds would have been sparse, and Democrats would still have voted for Obama. I'm not sure Lieberman did anything for Gore in 2000, I don’t see how he would have done anything for McCain except fracture the Republican Party (more than it already is). That being said, I think McCain should have said that he would be his Secretary of State. I think McCain could have named many of the people he would like in his cabinet to help with his bipartisan approach.

Mike Huckabee - Maybe the only other viable candidate that could have helped McCain almost as much as Palin. But his draw is southern, and for all the Obama gains, McCain still has the south in is corner. Palin and Huckabee both have a Populist bent. Huckabee is a better articulator of it, but probably still draws less enthusiasm than Palin does.

Bobby Jindal - Apparently wasn't interested. And he's 37. If McCain loses, then I think Jindal could very well be the nominee in 2012. He would bring the enthusiasm of Palin, but he would also bring better communication skills with the media than Palin has.

Running through that list just re-confirms that Palin was and is the best available pick for McCain. McCain would have been down 10 points in September if he hadn't picked Palin. Picking her gave him a temporary lead. What has crushed McCain's campaign is not Palin. It's the economy and Bush. The media and liberal talking heads like to point to Palin because she is a threat to their ideals. She's a strong, pro-life, conservative woman who has risen the ranks without having to cater to the NOW group or Planned Parenthood to get there. Her values disqualify her as a woman in their eyes, and so they must destroy her so she will not succeed. Blaming McCain's failures on her is one way to do that. What's hurt Palin more than anything is the way the McCain campaign handled her early on. They re-emphasized the suspicion of the media by keeping her sequestered and trying to get her to speak like an insider. It's not who she is and it showed. Unfortunately that image has been seared in the public's mind, so even though she has campaigned strongly and been much smoother in her dealings with the press lately, she is trying to overcome the first impression. I am still in support of Palin as VP, and think she would be great in Washington . If John McCain loses, it will not be because of her.