Never underestimate your opponent.
Sun Tzu knew that idiom well and so did Machiavelli. Hillary Clinton, though, suffered for not heeding the strategy and some of her fellow Democrats seem ready to make the mistake again.
Within minutes of John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate, Democrats labeled the move disastrous and desperate. However, picking a 44-year-old, gun-toting, attractive mother of five is a move right out of the Republican playbook that has led to victories in the past.
With Palin, McCain and his advisers, including Karl Rove, aim to energize the Republican base that helped George W. Bush cinch the White House. The governor of Alaska owns an 86-percent approval rating in her state and her values mesh perfectly with conservatives who have been pining for someone to rally around during this election season.
McCain is banking that he can hammer his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, on foreign policy and readiness to lead while Palin woos disenchanted Clinton voters and coaxes Republicans off the sidelines. It’s a tactic that’s not desperate at all. Obama spoke tough against McCain on Thursday night, but that was behind the shield of 80,000 of his worshippers. When he’s alone on stage facing attacks from the war hero, the 47-year-old could very well wilt in a debate.
Palin, meanwhile, will enter her vice-presidential debate with Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate, with such meager expectations that all she has to do is make a few sharp points and she can come out looking impressive. Biden, on the other hand, is not the most tactful speaker and is in danger of coming across as a bully against a younger woman.
While talking heads will call Palin’s selection a surprise, that’s only because they didn’t see it coming. In many conservative circles, Palin was the choice. Her odds in Las Vegas of winning the selection trailed only Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty earlier this week. Both of those men would have been unexciting and easy for the Democrats to combat. Palin invigorates youth in the party and gives McCain the crucial campaign element Obama has monopolized: buzz.
In choosing Palin, the Republicans have changed the debate and, they hope, given undecided American voters a reason to think twice.
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.elevationpr.com/news/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
August 29th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
So, McCain’s VP choice is decided by the fact that she will appeal to the same people who supported Hillary. What does that say about women? That they will support literally anyone that is a woman just because the person is a woman? What an insult. Not only to women, but to Hillary Clinton. That’s like the old saying, “Turn them upside down and they all look the same.” And, what if McCain dies in office? We end up with a pretty PTA mom as our commander in chief and leader of the free world. And, what does this say about McCain? He met Sarah Palin once before selecting her to be the Republican candidate for Vice-President of the United States of America. This feels sadly like the same guy who “chased Cindy around the hors d’ouevre table” while the mother of his children took care of the family. Same smitten guy sucking air through his clenched teeth, except 30 years older. How disrespectful of those who have served our country. How disrespectful to all of us. Flat out pandering, just to get votes. Pathetic.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Sarah Palin is an awesome Gun-toting hockey mom who has shown she can bring about change, not just talk about it. All of a sudden the Democrats are not so invincible….