Colborne 2016

Excellent Timing

Last night, Obama gave his convention speech, where he outlined his vision for his candidacy and what he hoped to accomplish. Slate has the entire text here, including some background information on key points; it’s definitely worth a read. Since Obama has historically been an excellent prepared-speech presenter, this was supposed to be a moment that would earn him an abundance of press, bump his poll numbers up, and help him finally put McCain away once and for all.

So, what are we talking about today? Let’s see here…

On Slate, we have… McCain’s VP pick!

CNN? Why, that’s… not Obama on the front! That’s McCain again!

Okay, what about MSNBC, home of Olbermann and Matthews? Surely they think Obama’s speech was headline news, right? Right?

$Look who\'s headline news... and who\'s not.$

Okay, okay - what about overseas? Surely BBC thinks Obama’s speech is more important than anything else going on in this race…

$Looks who\'s on top of this one, too!$

All right, I know one place that will almost certainly have Obama as front-page headline news: NPR!

$Obama\'s not headline material here, either.$

That’s right - instead of talking about Obama’s great speech, everybody’s talking about McCain’s choice for Vice-President, one Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska. By not only choosing Palin, but by announcing her as his VP pick when he did, McCain has done an absolutely outstanding job of shifting the focus away from Obama’s presumed moment of glory and towards his campaign, and, no matter who you’re rooting for, that’s a pretty clever feat of politicking right there.

UPDATE: While we’re at it, let’s also go over how Palin’s pick benefits McCain - she gets Obama talking about experience. In order for McCain to win, he needs to fight on ground of his choosing, not Obama’s. This is why McCain has wanted to debate Obama for months - Obama’s a great preparatory speaker, but not as solid in a debate. Hillary proved that nicely. By throwing Palin out there, he reveals a “weakness” in his campaign - an inexperienced Vice-Presidential candidate that’s just as inexperienced as Obama is. There’s just one catch: There’s no on-the-job training for being President. Being a Vice-President, on the other hand, is nothing but on-the-job training. Yeah, she would also become the President of the Senate, but what are the chances that there are going to be deadlocks that she would need to settle in a predominately Democratic Senate? Nil? Slightly less than nil? So, her job, at least as long as McCain is capable of being President, would involve sitting in meetings, soaking up information from McCain and whatever advisors he chooses to pick, and learning every bit of Washington arcana she will need in order to succeed should she ever need to, well, succeed McCain.

In short, she’s the bait, and Obama is already starting to bite, hook, line, and sinker. Come to think of it, I seem to remember there being another old man in history that had a knack for getting his opponent to fight on ground of his own choosing, too.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Welcome, Instapunditeers! Feel free to look around and enjoy your stay.

instalanched, politics | David Colborne | August 29, 2008 1:13 pm

11 Comments

By James, August 29, 2008 @ 4:10 pm

I’ll do everyone a favor and recap last night’s speech:
By Todd, August 29, 2008 @ 4:17 pm

David - thanks for the screen caps, that was cool.

James - good one. I’m still chuckling over that.
By Molon Labe, August 29, 2008 @ 5:26 pm

It’s not true that Gov. Palin has no experience. Not a lot, but some — and it IS ALL EXECUTIVE experience.

They didn’t mention it, but she also helped run her husband’s fishing business before she ran for Governor. Arguably she is the MOST experienced at organizational leadership and reports on her first 2 years in Juno are pretty favorable. She’s got real accomplishments under her belt.
By ic, August 29, 2008 @ 5:52 pm

To reiterate someone else’s comment: Palin is as inexperienced as Obama is as a VP pick.
By Carol in Oregon, August 29, 2008 @ 6:13 pm

Sen. Obama is lucky his speech got wiped off the coverage. Otherwise we would have spent all day today reflecting on just how conventional a speech it was. And that would lead us to reflect on how conventional his latest judgement call was — VP choice Biden. And THAT would make us start to wonder, what is it again that is so exciting about this guy?

Luckily for him, we didn’t get to reflect on that.
Unluckily for him, we get to be excited about some REAL folks and some REAL change.

What an exciting election year this is turning out to be!
By BadLiberal, August 30, 2008 @ 5:03 am

Let’s compare and contrast Palin and Obama:

Palin doesn’t have Obama’s experience in dealing with terrorists, because she hasn’t been put on boards or had fundraising parties thrown for her by terrorists.

Palin doesn’t have Obama’s experience in dealing with corruption, because she’s fought corruption instead of embracing it.

Palin doesn’t have Obama’s experience in dealing with earmarks, as she has refused earmark money.

So yeah, Obama is definitely the more experienced candidate. He’s just got the wrong kinds of experience.
By Schooner Man, August 30, 2008 @ 10:47 am

As a registered independent I don’t really know where to begin.

First of all I am always a little nervous when some one has the nickname Barracuda, as that species of fish is well know for its toughness, intelligence, speed and viciousness.

As for diplomatic skill, well settling the arguments between teenage daughters would be difficult if not impossible for any seasoned diplomat.

As for fearlessness: Have any of you seen the Discovery series “The Most Dangerous Catch” about fishing in Alaskan waters? She has been doing that for years.

Another thing that the people who make their living from the sea know. That out there when the wind is blowing 80 knots and the waves are twice the high as your boat is long, the only things that keeps you alive is “Faith in your self and Faith in your God.” In those conditions, all the money, position, and power don’t mean piddly squat.

Lastly a tough, smart, honest, public servant trumps a lying experienced politician any day.