An ashtray molded and painted to resemble a toilet seat. A fountain pen with a fake feather attached. Sarah Palin, feminist for life.
This diary contains no revelations, no breaking stories, no nude photos. It isn't an examination of Palin's seedy extreme-right background, the sad state of a world in which the legacy of feminism can be appealed to by someone who complained of Hillary's "whining," or an argument that McCain just sent the last few undecided Clinton supporters Obama's way (he did). Instead, it's about the nature of the selection, and the various interpretations offered so far.
The narrative, as you know, is that McCain's choice of Palin was reactionary. The amazing Democratic National Convention meant the republicans had to make an unconventional move. "A hail mary pass!", everyone is saying. However, I think that metaphor is flawed, beyond the fact that it is the frame McCain wants the press to use.
Let's examine:
First of all, the hail mary pass isn't much of a maverick move - maverick football would be faking a punt in the second quarter of a tied game. No, it is an act of desperation, a last-gasp gamble you take when the clock hits zero and all the other options are off the table. And while I do think this is a sign of Republican hopelessness, with some 10 weeks to go it certainly won't be the last.
How else, then, to interpret and frame this truly baffling choice? Rather than think about it in terms of the bottom-line - will she actually help him win - how about taking a step back. What did McCain achieve, short-term, with his pick? In one swift move, he gave an increasingly critical media something 'juicy' to take to the RNC, appeased the Bush-Cheney wing of the party and appeared to reach out to women ostensibly wary of Obama. His pick, 'my friends,' is a multi-purpose olive branch.
But make no mistake, this is an olive branch made of cheap plastic.
Scholars have written volumes upon volumes on ritual gift-giving, most notably the tradition in some tribes to share generously in order to gain status: the potlatch. Much less has been said about the more recent practice, common among fraternity brothers and North American men susceptible to senior moments, of providing friends and family with an endless supply of humorously annotated coffee mugs, doorstops masquerading as dog poop, and laser-pointer keychains. Novelty gift-giving: strange, surprising, left-field (and often with a little innuendo).
The novelty gift states with the utmost conviction, "It's the thought that counts". And with Palin, it really is the 'idea' rather than anything of substance: I won't go into the reasons why she isn't up to the task, they are already being well documented, as the rec list makes clear.
Maybe it's sad, but it's the dominant reality of our times: a media-savvy, celebrity politician like John McCain believes that a token pick is the way to go. For now, the entire party is focused on his creative gimmick - a present he really gave himself in an attempt to celebrate his image as off-the-cuff and crazy in all the right ways. But novelty wears off pretty quick, and then all you have is an ugly lamp that won't last.
Now, what is it McCain will achieve in the long-term? In one swift move, he has given the media ammo to question his judgment further, proven to voters once and for all he cannot stand up to the neocons and, most disgustingly, belittled the achievements of Hillary Clinton by equating his gimmickry with her passion and hard work.
Repeat after me: McCain is not a maverick, and his choice is not a hail mary. He wants that heroic narrative, but in the end he's an old man who wants to buy you a sock puppet.