Focus on Palin will destroy the Democrats chances of winning 2008 elections

David Brooks, the card carrying republican who shows up weekly with Mark Shields to debate the current issues on News Hour with Jim Lehrer, is one of my favorite political pundits. I like Brooks because he makes me think with his shrewd and often cunning arguments, argument which might seem to attract you but like the candle light attracting the moth, could end up hurting you. In this article in New York Times, Brooks quotes why he thinks Sarah Palin is wrong for US. Here is a quote from that article...
What is prudence? It is the ability to grasp the unique pattern of a specific situation. It is the ability to absorb the vast flow of information and still discern the essential current of events — the things that go together and the things that will never go together. It is the ability to engage in complex deliberations and feel which arguments have the most weight.

He goes on to say...
Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness.

Democrats, and Libertarians who are afraid of Sarah Palin Vice-Presidency (or some would say Presidency), should read David's op-ed carefully. I agree with Brooks' argument that Palin is indeed less than qualified for the office because she lacks the requisite experience or prudence. The problem is, out of all the outstanding candidates presented to them, the Democrats of United States have selected Obama as their standard bearer, Obama who could just as easily be criticized for lack of prudence born out of experience. If one were to follow Brooks' line of reasoning, one would conclude that Obama is equally unqualified for the office of Presidency. For all its merits, Brooks argument carefully lays a trap for the Democrats that one needs to be wary of.

Despite the emotional urge to castigate Palin, railling against Palin is absolutely the wrong strategy for the democrats, a strategy that will only help Democrats loose the election. This election is not about Palin, but about the sorry state of the US economy, the war that is draining the country of precious resources, our children whose futures are being held to ransom by ideological motivations, the state of US manufacturing which seems to have reached its nadir with the US auto industry on its knees, the state of US competitiveness in service industry where high value added industry is being moved abroad in the name of efficiency. With so many issues, and with an abysmal record of Republican governance of last seven years, to focus on Palin is to take the eye off the ball.

Palin is the Republican choice for VP and she is here to stay. To attack her today is to make her into tomorrow's story. The winning strategy for Democrats is to focus on the economy and the last seven years record of Republicans, and not to focus on Palin and her record as the Mayor of Wasilla.

Comments

Eric Dondero said…
Libertarians afraid of Sarah Palin? Why's that? She's a libertarian Republican, the most libertarian to appear on a major party ticket since Goldwater.

Why in the world would we libertarians be "afraid" of Sarah Palin??

Are you suggesting we don't want to succeed and we're afraid of victory or something?
Pavansut said…
One could debate about Libertarian credentials of Sarah Palin, but that's not the point. Libertarians have their own candidate, one who is very experienced in matters of governance, so they don't have to worry about Palin. I only referred to Libertarians because in this election the Green Party seems to be no where. At least the Libertarians are making some noise.

As for republicans with libertarian leanings, I feel sad for you because McCain has done you a great disservice in picking Palin. Is this the best GOP can do? I can think of ten other great candidates with libertarian stripes that would have been better than Palin.

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