Taking a Dive

Is John McCain throwing the presidential election?

That’s a mostly facetious question, but between the murmur of a Republican convention and his pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate, I’m not seeing a whole lot of enthusiasm for winning.

Granted, the Republicans pretty much had to board up the convention’s windows yesterday to prepare for Gustav. Katrina’s Public Enemy #1 was scheduled to speak that night, and with the odd outbreaks of spontaneous dancing, buttslaps, and chest-bumps the President has been exhibiting lately, who knows what he’d do? Maybe he’d have brought a fiddle. But even the most somber, sober of speeches would have begged the questions: Why is he here? Shouldn’t he be protecting us? I could be wrong, but I don't think Democrats would have had to run from the storm so much if it made landfall a week earlier; it would have been wise to set aside political attacks, but beyond that, the convention might have proceeded according to plan, largely because it was a Republican administration that mishandled Katrina and Rita. (Of course, hurricanes also tend to bring into focus the need for a federal government, a notion none too popular with small-government Republicans anyway.)

But beyond that accident of timing: What about Palin? A few days ago, I had no real idea who she is. But now I see that she is under investigation for allegedly pressuring a state official to fire her ex-brother-in-law, then firing the official when he wouldn’t do it. She was promoted as someone who opposed Ted Stevens' “Bridge to Nowhere,” when in reality, she supported it. The candidate of “experience” is touting her 18 months as commander and chief of the Alaska National Guard as foreign policy experience, but the campaign can’t even point to a decision she made that would have any FP relevance at all. And, oh yeah, she used to be a member of an Alaskan separatist movement.

Now, I know McCain isn’t really taking a dive. He didn’t knowingly choose someone so unsuited for the job so that he’d lose in November. But the fact remains: He chose someone who just isn’t up to the job... most likely because his team didn’t arrive in Alaska to vet her until the day before he announced her as his choice.

I don’t think it’s setting the bar too high to ask that a Presidential candidate actually bother to look into who’s going to replace him. Like most decisions a President faces, it requires research and careful consideration, not a gut feeling. Especially when that gut is so, so wrong.

Sheesh.

Rob