I haven't read all of Scott McClellen's book, but I know that one of the main points he believes is wrong with the Bush is that the president runs his administration in constant campaign mode. It's not doing the job right that's important, it's making sure he jam his agenda through and his minions stay on message. Message, mission and manipulate if necessary. Facts are secondary.
More of the campaign same is going for the Republicans now and people will catch onto it eventually--he's not thinking ahead. Mccain is so trapped in campaign mode, he's not choosing the VP that'll eventually do the best job but that will get him elected. The choice has Win this Election written all over it.
The pundits who talk about Palin as a good choice emphasize how she'll bring women to Mccain, how she's a brash move. She's truly got the ability to speak to a room. Her passion is going to bring in the votes!
It's all politicking, but what about governing? Not so much about that and not just because she doesn't have a lot of experience.
So far the story we're being fed by the republicans is of her personality: warm, out-going intelligent person.
She's quick to respond which can be good, but apparently she's also someone with a quick temper, according to Andrew Halcro a fellow politician who's known her for years. Uh oh. Another thin-skinned name on that ticket.
Halcro obviously admires her ability and says never to underestimate her. But the things he admires most about her? Her ability to campaign and her warmth. She sounds like a brilliant campaigner.
Palin is a fighter and is has an amazing way of filling a room with her presence. During the gubernatorial race in 2006, it was an amazing sight to behold at every debate. No matter what she said, if anything, people would just gush at her optimism and her compelling story.
While I and others criticized her glittering generalities during the campaign, the more she spoke them the more people fell in love. That is the significant power she has of making voters forget about the policy and focus on the person
.
But she's apparently someone who speaks on gut impulse rather than thoughtful reflection. When she gets up to speak, the person at the podium is a preacher rather than professor.
In April of 2006, Palin and I shared a cup of coffee together in the Captain Cook coffee shop. We had just been at a debate up at the University of Fairbanks the night before and she said although the was impressed with my ability to state policies and figures, when looking out over the audience, she wondered to herself if having a grasp of that really mattered.
Impulsive people often don't do a great job of thinking through long-term consequences. Yeah, I'm thinking of someone with a high risk pregnancy getting on a plane after the membranes rupture instead of checking into a hospital.
Mccain, no stranger to acting on impulse himself, seems to have picked himself a soul-mate indeed. He should have gone for someone thoughtful and even wonky to show he was serious about being president.
The choice of Palin is a move that is supposed to show Mccain is ready to support women and fundamentalists. It's just more of the constant campaign frame of mind.
Pretty, charismatic and completely unready for the job. Maybe she'll be smart enough to learn on the job, on the other hand maybe she won't be fit for office. She's been hired by someone not thinking past the trail to the actual work of governing. If Mccain succeeds and takes the White House, we can only hope that unlike Dubya, he learns to leave behind the mirrors and smoke screens that are part of the political campaign. And that Palin learns that boring numbers and facts are really the meat of the matter.