Did McCain Just Win the Election?

Barack Obama’s many amazing talents might or might not qualify him to be a good President. John McCain, in order to win, must point out that Sen. Obama lacks experience and substance. He might have just done that, by introducing Gov. Sarah Palin into the mix.

Gov. Palin's experience (for the number 2 spot) easily matches that of Sen. Obama (the top of the ticket). If you dispute that, I’d suggest that you might be missing how much a Governor oversees and how little an individual Senator actually oversees. And, come to think of it, though the Lefties, (for the good of the nation, mind you), are deeply worried that Gov. Palin’s experience is problematic, they didn’t fretted much about that issue when first-term Virginia Governor Tim Kaine was being considered for the Democratic ticket. Could it be that Gov. Kaine simply is doing a more manly job of governing? My bad. Poor choice of words.

And, the difference in substance between Gov. Palin and Sen. Obama could not be greater. During Gov. Palin’s time in office, she has rocked the establishment. By contrast, Obama has rocked the vote. End of story. Nothing else. Disagree? Other than getting the nomination, please name Sen. Obama’s accomplishments. Other than getting the nomination, the man who would be President has never moved the needle. Not a smidge. He’s talked about it a lot. But, unless I missed it somewhere, he’s never actually done it.

Adding Gov. Palin to the ticket is a game changer. And, it seems that the Obama camp knows it. Their reaction to Gov. Palin: “Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.” Well, until recently, wasn’t the “community organizer,” um, organizing the community, or whatever it would be called? Again, Gov. Palin’s experience is equal, if not superior. Governors have done just fine, in making the step over to the federal system. What the Obama campaign really meant to say with the “town of 9,000” slight is that Gov. Palin’s common-man (though extraordinary) background is less worthy than the Harvard-to-Congress pathway; people outside the elitist circle are lesser human beings. Run with that vision, Senator! Voters eat that stuff up like pâté.

Compared to Sen. Joe “Gaffe-o-matic” Biden, I’m sure Gov. Palin will be very good. But, in her own right, I expect that she will be extraordinary. In a race that seemed to be offering nothing more than the same-old insider rhetoric and perspective, Gov. Palin should add significant energy to the debate. In a nation looking for real change – meaning something other than simply bouncing back to that other bad and predictable relationship – the winning ticket just might be the renegade old man and the hockey-mom-who-could.

UPDATE: It would be grossly false, of course, to say that opposition to Gov. Palin necessarily is sexism. Of course. Of course. Just like opposition to Sen. Obama is not necessarily racism. However, lots of opposition to Gov. Palin coming from the Left clearly is sexist. She took on the establishment, to become Governor. Of course, her responsibilities mirror those of the other 49 governors. As Governor, when others would still be "getting their feet under them," she again took on the establishment. And she beat it again.

Yet, the enlightened Left seems to think that she won a regional bake off, unlike several other first-term government figures involved in this cycle, such as Obama, Edwards, Kaine (speculatively, at least), and Romney (admit it), who carry the gravitas of office. With the mood of the country, Democrats have to work hard to lose this election. Right now, they're working their tails off.

UPDATE 2: Wow! Paul Begala just noted how poised Gov. Palin was during her presentation today. He noted that it was clearly the result of her beauty pageant training. Unenlightened Republican that I am, I might have thought her Governor gig had something to do with it.