Pros:
1) She’s young. McCain needed a makeover for his old and grizzly image. This will grab up the shallow, cosmetic votes, and hopefully show people that Republican can be “fresh” too.
2) Has solid conservative politics. McCain needed someone who would reinforce his major political views, not “compliment” them…which really means disagree with them. However, on some of the smaller issues, she holds different opinions, which will work to their advantage (i.e., she’s more active on women’s rights, her husband is a union worker, ect.)
3) She’s a woman. This will prove very useful in picking up all the disgruntled Hillary supporters who can’t bring themselves to vote for a radical. Ohio residents especially are (according to polls) responding very positively to this choice. (This is also a con, which will be noted below)
4) She’s a “maverick”. Taking on McCain’s image, but this time it’s a good thing. As one who’s *proven* herself willing to reach across party lines as opposed to just talking about it, she stands out. Not only does she hold unique views for a republican (as noted in point 2), but she has successfully reached mutual agreements with those from whose opinion she differs.
Cons:
1) Lack of experience. The McCain campaign has been using this card (and rather effectively, I might add), to show Obama’s weak points. The fact that he’s now taking on a VP that has even less experience (time-wise) than Obama is generating a lot of whininess about him being hypocritical. (Which he’s not. Having an inexperienced VICE president is a lot less of a concern than having an inexperienced PRESIDENT.) If people would look into the fact that, as Governor, she’s *actually* had much more experience running things than Obama has, I’m quite sure this wouldn’t be an issue. But people don’t. So it’s an issue.
2) Lack of name recognition/solid reputation. Had the RNC gotten off to a normal start, I think this would have been less of an issue. However, the media is now attempting to learn every detail of her life in a span of 2 months. This, obviously, has generated a lot of hearsay and rumors. The question is…is saucy gossip better than no media attention at all?
3) May look patronizing towards Hillary supporters. A lot of women’s rights activists are getting annoyed because to them, it looks like we expect them to be happy with ANY woman on the ballot. Those ladies should watch her acceptance speech.
Ok. There you have it. I reserve the right to add on to this later in the season, but let me assure you all, I am ecstatic about McCain’s choice. I hope you all tuned in to watch the RNC this week. John McCain delivered his acceptance speech Thursday night. All in all, it was a magnificent speech, if completely different from Palin’s. If Sarah’s speech on Wednesday was Obama-level inspiration infused with substance, fire, and down-to-earth goodness, then McCain’s was a detailed how-to guide for each of the issues. He delivered, with “arguably more detail than Obama’s”according to a CNN reporter, exactly what the American people want to hear; the change WE plan to bring is good change…and here’s how we’re going to do it. Surprisingly void of any attempt to Obama-ize the convention, and surprisingly FULL of a fired-up, chanting, hero-worshipping crowd.
I volunteer for the Luke Puckett campaign, and I can tell you first hand that the last two convention nights have been our turning point. Potential donors that had previously thought it foolish to waste money on a sure-to-lose effort are now giving—and giving generously. The question is…once the fire has burned for a bit, and things are back to their normal hum, will we still have the drive?
