John McCain's greatest contribution to the conservative movement was naming Sarah Palin as his running mate.
So the country got its wish.
Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States in 76 days from now.
He has now been placed in the awkward position of having to back up his own lofty oratory. With lofty oratory come lofty expectations.
Americans expect Obama to restore to our economy to prosperity.
Americans expect Obama to reform health care.
Americans expect Obama to command our armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq responsibly and to protect us in the ongoing War on Terror.
With our economy in the worst shape it has been in nearly three decades it is unlikely Obama will be able to provide any quick fix for the economy. Under these conditions it is also unlikely Obama will be able to change our health care system in any meaningful way.
Aside from inheriting two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is very likely Joe Biden's prediction will be realized. A foreign power or a terrorist organization (possibly both) will test Obama's resilience before 2009 has passed. By Biden's own admission it will not be readily apparent that Obama has passed such a test.
Americans have taken a leap of faith with Obama. Under Obama's leadership will America soar to a new horizon or will America fall hard and fast to a spectacular crash?
Barack Obama is our first black President. By the end of his term I believe his hair will be whiter than John McCain's.
John McCain is indisputably an honorable and noble man. However, he not considered a conservative icon. However, McCain's greatest legacy to the conservative movement was naming Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Sarah Palin has reinvigorated the conservative movement. Obama's victory does not diminish this renewed enthusiasm in the least. In Palin, conservatives have someone to rebuild the movement around. Given her unusual circumstances and the transcendent nature of her persona in her possession she has already proven that she can attract people who had no previous interest in politics much less describe themselves as conservative or Republican. Despite the disdain of the liberal media and a handful of conservative critics, Sarah Palin has captured the imagination of everyday Americans in her own right and would be a formidable foe for Obama in four years time.
Yes, I am putting it out there less than 24 hours after the Presidential election. If she runs I will support Sarah Palin's bid for the White House in 2012. I know I am not alone.
Palin will be four years older and wiser but no less charming and dynamic. Should she run Palin will have more experience as a state Governor than Mitt Romney.
This isn't to say that Palin's path to the White House would be easy. Her status as John McCain's running mate and following she has developed might make her the frontrunner but we all know what has happened to frontrunners lately.
Palin hasn't always made nice with Republicans. Who can guarantee that she won't face a challenge in the 2010 Alaska Republican Primary? Could Frank Murkowski challenge Palin as Palin challenged him in 2006? Even if Palin survives a strong challenge from Murkowski or any other Republican it could hurt her chances for re-election.
GOP challenge or not every Democrat in the country is going to fly to Juneau to ensure her defeat in November 2010. Democrats will do with her what Republicans tried to do with Bill Clinton when he ran for re-election as Governor of Arkansas in 1990. Republicans charged that Clinton would not serve a full term because of his Oval Office ambitions. Clinton denied he was contemplating a White House bid in 1992. Well, I think we know how that turned out. Suffice it to say, Democrats will be making this charge and Palin will have to walk a very fine line.
Assuming that Palin survives both a GOP challenge and wins re-election in Alaska it is unlikely she would win the Republican nomination for the White House by acclamation.
You can be sure Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee still have aspirations for higher office. One must also consider up and comers like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who was elected to office a year ago, and perhaps Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives. Both Jindal and Cantor were discussed as potential running mates for McCain last summer.
No one is going to hand Sarah Palin the Presidency on a platter and she hasn't asked for any such thing. If Palin is nominated by the Republican National Convention and goes on to win the White House in four years it will be because she has earned it like she has earned everything else in her life.
Sarah Palin is an American success story. She is a self-made woman who has raised a family while serving the public good. This resonates with a large segment of the American public who see her in themselves. We say to ourselves, "If she can make it then I can make it too." If Obama's time is now she will resonate that much more should he be unable to make the most of his time in office.
Sarah Palin's time will come. America's preparation for that time begins today.
I guess it depends on what you consider a success story…I feel like she's (Palin) a bit too polarizing. She'll need to bend a bit more towards the middle for the general population to get on board.
Good call. I'd also suggest that we treat the media and Obama like they treated Palin. Let's give them change. States Ann Coulter: "For now, we have a new president-elect. In the spirit of reaching across the aisle, we owe it to the Democrats to show their president the exact same kind of respect and loyalty that they have shown our recent Republican president." How can the media praise Barack "57 states" Obama for his smarts? How can they present Joe "Law Cheat" Biden as a clever gun?
I'm with Carl Rove! We have a new president and we want him to succeed. In three years, a new campaign will start and we will see who the candidates are. I was for Mitt, but he lost. It just makes me 7 for 11 now. Let’s hope the country is strong enough to correct this mistake. That could happen in 4 years or it could happen sooner if the office changes the new president.
One important point to understand is that reaching for the middle killed the Republican Party. Until candidates and platforms move much further to the right we will be burdened with a one party system. Pat Buchannon, like him or hate him, was right.
ABC News just posted a pretty negative story about the McCain camp blasting Palin for her over-spending on wardrobe, lack of intelligence, etc. I was a serious Palin supporter, but if even 50% of this stuff is true, it just looks horrible. Ironically, I can forgive someone for not knowing who the member nations of NAFTA. I would have a harder time accepting excuses about why she needed to spend over $100,000 on a wardrobe if the budget was $25,000. That thing goes right along with the "Rich Republicans" tag. We are stuck with Obama for at least 4 years. The Conservative party needs to get its poop together and start offering better candidates. Fiscally conservative is a must have trait.
"..a pretty negative story…" Has there been any other kind? If ABC doesn't like her, she must be ok.
She will earn it. She's not going to hang around for the next two years waiting for someone to remake her into a candidate for higher office–she's going to get down to brass tacks, even if it means studying Africa. :) And I think she's our best hope to reclaim the White House from the liberal illuminati and guide us down a truly conservative path.
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Ivan, Romney is a clone of John McCain which suggests he should not appear on the national stage posing as a conservative. Remember actions speak and Romney's actions are liberal to an extreme.
I am actually hopeful that my Governor (Bobby Jindal) will continue to move towards towards a shot at the White House, but he may be better timed for 2016 or 2020. He has yet to reach 40 yet. As I say that, I am brought back to just how little experience Obama has, and yet this Country just elected him. Sarah has lots of work ahead of her if she wants to be a player in 2012 enough to fight off the rabid feminist crowd (those hypocritical bi*ches).
Mickey
I lived through the George Romney tenure in Michigan. Michigan is a Democratic state, like Mass, and in order to get elected and survive one needs to moderate the way one operates. I loved Goldwater and now I like Duncan Hunter, but first we need someone electable. The way it is now, we can look forward to one or two new Ruth Ginsbergs or worse. Take away McCain's age, funny looks, lack of speaking ability and put Mitt in there with Palin and we would be looking at a defeated Obama today. But, I appreciate your opinion. We all have them and they……..:>)
Ivan, the problem is that Romney is not a conservative rather a flaming liberal with a Republican tag. Goldwater's run was the first I ever worked and Johnson proved the power of lies repeated often enough get you elected (thank you Dr. Goebbels). The someone electable routing is just what killed the Republican party now and for the future. Admittedly, in four years, anyone will look conservative against the Omessiah backdrop but this voter isn't going to select a lesser of two evils again.
Like you said Ivan, let's not wish for Obama to fail because even if he does fail, those are four years we have to live with. Unfortunately, because of the Democratic majority in Congress, his failure almost seems inevitable, as liberals like to shoot themselves in the foot when if not properly restrained. I have a hard time thinking he will get anything he wants done unless his plans are in sync with Comrade Pelosi.
Those talking about Sarah Palin as a possible candidate for national office in 2010 or 2012 have failed to appreciate the widespread ridicule and even animosity that this woman generated in her short few weeks on the national stage. She may have made a certain connection with the religious ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party. However, to most Americans, even many who voted for her, it was painfully clear that she was not, and would probably never be, someone who could be elected to national office. At one point after the Republican Convention, she polled at approximately 12%, as compared to Biden’s 87%, among female registered voters nationwide.
Conservatives who consider themselves as intellectual should recognize that Ms. Palin is, in fact, viewed as anti-intellectual. To be kind, she comes across as uninformed, inarticulate, and worst of all, oblivious to the fact that she leaves a very poor impression on most educated people who see her.
Sarah Palin had her chance on the national stage. By refusing to prepare for important TV interviews, spending five times the allocated budget on clothes, not informing herself on the most basic issues, and demonstrating her inability to think on her feet, she has shown that she is not the best that conservatives have to offer. Conservatives need to look elsewhere for a 2012 standard bearer. There is plenty of time.
DrWilson,
Let's see, "widespread ridicule." You seem to suggest that the conservative movement has or will be able to find a candidate who will not suffer widespread ridicule. EVERY candidate with even a hint of conservative philosophy is subject to widespread ridicule, sir.
The MSM absolutely loved McCain. Every time he sided with the Left he was on the front page with kudos all around. He then was subject to widespread ridicule himself once he had the audacity to run against a Democrat.
Yes, Palin was polling low. Here's a definition for you. A poll is a device designed to ascertain how effective the MSM's widespread ridicule has been. Polls simply check the smearjob the media have done.
I looked in vain for any MSM story that presented Palin as anything other than a vain, idiotic rube. But, when I found her in unedited form, she always was enganging, quick-witted, and knowledgeable. Perhaps the good doctor would be willing to explain that.
The MSM were so in the tank for Obama, so completely did they abdicate their responsibility to do their jobs, and so thoroughly did they provide cover for the Obama campaign, that it's a wonder that McCain/Palin lost only by 52/48. Obama should have won by 20.
Palin suffered the cruelist, mean-spirited, ugly smear campaign with class, dignity, and good cheer. Heroic by any standard, and a worthy standard-bearer by any measure.
Mountain Man,
Well said. And although I do not agree with you, I am sure there are many who do. However, you miss the point. To be elected to national office a candidate must be able to win more votes than her or his rival.
Regardless of whether she was mistreated or mishandled (or both), the SNL skits and humorously cut video clips on U-Tube are now permanently archived on the internet and in the national psyche. They will follow her for the rest of her career. She will simply never be able to draw the vote from more than the right wing of the Republican Party.
The Palin "brand" has been badly (probably irreparably)damaged at the national level. Dan Quail would have had a better chance against Bill Clinton than Palin will have against Obama or his Democratic successor.
There are a number of conservatives who should be able to successfully go against Obama in 2012 or 2016. Unfortunately, Sarah Palin is not one of them. To send her out again would be to relegate the Republican Party to near irrelevant minority status for many years to come.
I have to agree with DrWilson that I would not like Palin to run in 2012, but not because of the ill-stated reasons he gave. She is surely a social conservative, but from what I gather she not a fiscal one, and more than anything, that's what we will likely need.
Her "brand" is rather weak thing to hold against her. However poor the brand is, it's because it was made so by those who created her image. Yet, people have images created and destroyed all the time. Look at McCain. When he was going against Bush in 2000, he was a maverick, he was bi-partisan, worked across party lines, etc. Come 2008, he was Bush's third term, more of the same, no longer a maverick, milking his war-hero status, etc. Image is something that can change very easily, because unfortunately, people can be swayed very easily by words and are unmoved by actions.
Latest Rasmussen poll:
69% believed Palin helped the McCain campaign
49% believe she should run for president in 2012, better than Romney, Jindal, and Guiliani combined.
I would suggest that we stop believing the presentation the Palin that the MSM would like us to believe. I also suggest that we divorce Palin from what the McCain camp wanted her to say vs. what she actually stands for.
RE: Rasmussen Poll:
Sorry, you still miss the point. That same poll indicates that 81% of Democrats and 57% of unaffiliated voters have an unfavorable view of Palin. McCain-Palin had an approximate 2 point lead in the polls until Palin blew the Curic interview. Thereafter, they lost the lead and never recovered.
Her interview meltdown was not a media-manufactured apparition. You can see it for yourself. She is clearly out of her league. She is a small town mayor and former beauty queen who barely made it through college and does not even know that Africa is a continent and not a country. Facts matter. Beliefs, no matter how strong, are no substitute for knowledge, experience and skill. Palin has shown again and again that she is sadly lacking in the latter.
Returning to the poll you cite: even assuming that Palin could win the vote of every person who isn't convinced that she is completely unqualified for national office (43% of unaffilliated voters, 19% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans), she could not win.
Running these numbers shows that the very best she could do would be approximately 36%-38% of the popular vote. With such numbers in the popular vote, the electoral vote would be a landslide for the Democrats. She might be able to carry Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Kansas, Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arkansas. And that is giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Oddly enough, there are millions of Democtars who share your enthusiasm for Palin as a Republican candidate. They would be overjoyed to run against her in 2012.
Further to my argument regarding Sarah Palin non-electability, the point was well made on Real Time last evening. In response to Maher's statement that 81% of Republicans would like to see Sarah Palin run for President in 2012, Paul Begala (CNN political commentator) replied that 100% of Democrats would like to see her run.
Paul Begala is a bitter partisan. He loves the smear job done on Palin and thinks that it has been effective enough to negate her popularity. He and you are wrong.
Sarah Palin needed no one to smear her. Since the Republican Convention, she has done a more than adequate job on national TV. The rediculous statements and mangled thoughts just kept coming.
Just picture Palin debating Obama. Well reasoned, fact-based arguments made against endlessly repeated memorized (but barely understood)talking points and winks at the audience.
Again, facts matter. The Democrats have found themselves a smart, even tempered and articulate standerd bearer who can get out the vote. Conservatives better do the same. Sarah Palin is a lot of things. Smart, even tempered and articulate she is not.
You cannot believe the media hype about the "electability" of Romney or Huckabee. They are being promoted because their candidacies would be as disasterous as McCain's and Dole's. I view the current smear campaign against Palin as a desperate attempt by Rinosaurs to hold on to power. Even in 2012, Palin will still have more executive, foreign policy, and commander-in-chief experience than Obama, should the left wing nuts controlling Congress allow him to finish his term. Furthermore, the media, its credibility already mortally trashed by its overt support of Obama, will not be able to mount the smear campaign against Palin like they did against Goldwater, once Obama delivers on his promises of 15% unemployment and terrorist attacks on our soil.
"Just picture Palin debating Obama. Well reasoned, fact-based arguments made against endlessly repeated memorized (but barely understood)talking points and winks at the audience."
I didn't know that Obama winked at the audience… regardless, I remember hearing something along these lines during both Bush election campaigns, and we know how both turned out.
"Electability" is a nice word for popularity. It is the reason why Democrats lost the last two presidential races, and why the Republicans lost this one. Instead of focusing on someone who represents something, they went with guys who could get elected. Gore on his popularity, Kerry because the other Democratic candidates were less electable, and McCain because he was the farthest thing from the party during a time when the party was doing miserably. If you want to win, you have to be inspirational, not popular. Popularity can come later.
Anderson, good comments.
It is interesting to me that Palin gets widespread media coverage on what appear to be minor gaffes while the Omessiah doesn't even know how many states are in the union. Seems to me that should be on page one but "he just misspoke because he was tired", or the Biden list of both gaffes and corruption but no coverage. Hmmm
Come on folks. Palin had to attend four different (not very good) schools just to get a BA in journalism. She thinks Africa is a country and cannot name the countries in North America. She says that living in the state closest to Russia gives her foreign policy experience. She didn't know what or who Hamas is. While asking for more research into autism, she doesn't understand that fruit fly research is central to genetics and has made important contributions to understanding autism.
She cannot answer general knowledge questions that can be correctly answered by college-bound high school students. (Not kidding here, I asked a dozen or so questions that she could not answer to college bound high school students myself and got the right answers every time.) She apparently does not believe that knowledge is important because her school-age children are not even in school.
While she may not be stupid, she is at least ignorant. If someone is 44 years old and doesn't know that Africa is a continent and not a country, or what countries are in North America, then sorry, they are ignorant. Don't know about you, but I would like a President who is smarter than I am.
If we want America to continue on the the path to idiocracy, along which the Bush Administation has made so much progress in the last 8 years, then Palin might well be the best we have.
"John McCain is indisputably an honorable and noble man." I used to believe this, but the campaign convinced me otherwise. What I took home from the campaign was that McCain is a man with a bad temper who will say almost anything to get elected. I'm sorry the guy suffered in Vietnam, but that doesn't make him either honorable or noble.
Igkjr3, did you know that McCain, because of his family, was given the opportunity to return to the states by his captors. He opted to stay behind because his fellow POWs were not given the same opportunity? I'm just wondering how much of the man you ACTUALLY know and how much you gathered from an election campaign which didn't reflect anything about either candidate?
I'm also wondering where people are getting this idea that he's ill-tempered. I didn't see him explode once on TV, but I may have missed it.
DrWilson, you harp too much on intelligence when it is both subjective and, at times, irrelevant. Jimmy Carter was a nuclear engineer, and yet he was one of the worst presidents this country, helping to create both the energy and financial crises that we have now. And for all of Bush's proclaimed stupidity, he beat two Ivy Leaguers in both of his elections.
"Don't know about you, but I would like a President who is smarter than I am." I think everyone is in agreement with you on this one. :P
Though I'll take wisdom over smarts any day.
Anderson, one can certainly argue that intelligence is somewhat subjective. However, your argument that since Jimmy Carter was intelligent and a poor President, intelligence must not required to be a good President, is flawed.
Intelligence may not guarantee that one will be a good President, but it certainly is a pre-requisite (necessary but not sufficient attribute).
I would even agree with you that wisdom is more important than smarts (or intelligence as measured by an IQ test). However, a reasonable IQ is required for one to gain wisdom. Wisdom is the product of knowledge and experience.
Sarah Palin has demonstrated over and over again that she does not have much knowledge, and worse than that, she does not value knowledge. She thinks that winking while delivering one-liners written by someone else is a substitute for understanding and thoughtful consideration of the issues.
The right wing of the Republican Party likes her because she is an ideologue, a true believer. She shares their narrow worldview wherein many important facts do not matter. More than any public figure I have ever known, her approach can be described a blissful ignorance. She has no idea how rediculous she appears to most of the people in the world.
She would be a disaster as a President for the same reason that George W. Bush was a disaster. She has demonstrated no ability to apply logic and reason to her personal beliefs or behavior. In short, she has no wisdom.
She may be a standard bearer for the radical right wing of the Republican Party, but she will never be elected to national office, because the American people, on balance, do have the wisdom not to elect her.
Dr Wilson, strange to note comments about Africa knowledge of Palin yet praise of a Harvard graduate who does not know how many states are in the union, states that he will redistribute wealth, and a long list of other unreported or under reported gaffes. Couple this with the under reporting of the opposing vice president candidate gaffes and corruption and we get a bewildering picture that seems to describe a high level of corruption even before they take office. Having servied in elective office I prefer courageous representatives that vote their conscience and I cannot stomach cowards voting "present" over 100 times. Leads me to believe he will be tested and we will find marshmallow not steel in his backbone since he has already shown the yellow flag of cowardice in his legislative behaviour.