Lost amidst the commentary about Sarah Palin's "deer-in-the-headlights" performance in her interview with Charlie Gibson last night is the fact that the Alaska Governor and Republican nominee for Vice-President dismissed the very rationale behind John McCain's candidacy and implicitly endorsed Barack Obama's campaign to give America the change it so desperately needs.
No, Gov. Palin did not deny that John McCain was once a POW! Nor did she challenge the McCain campaign's assertion that being held captive in Hanoi for 5 1/2 years automatically qualifies one for the Presidency.
But when asked about the fact that she has never met a foreign head of state, Ms. Palin, who was 43 when she received her 1st passport, and whose experience abroad consists of a brief trip to Kuwait, with stopovers in Germany and Ireland, said:
“We’ve got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual and somebody’s big fat résumé that maybe shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where, yes, they’ve had opportunities to meet heads of state.”
Observers are speculating that Gov. Palin, whose popularity has soared to celebrity-like levels previously reserved for media superstars like Justin Timberlake and Keanu Reeves, was expressing her doubts about the GOP's Presidential nominee, Senator John McCain. They note that Sen. McCain has been a member of the "Washington establishment" for more than 25 years, during which time he has encountered many foreign leaders. Republicans, including Ms. Palin, have gone to great lengths to portray Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama, as an inexperienced "community organizer," downplaying the eight years he spent representing an Illinois state Senate district with more inhabitants than Governor Palin's state of Alaska and his four years in the US Senate, where he has served on the Foreign Relations committee. This has fueled speculation that Gov. Palin's remark about "fat resumés" and "politics as usual" could only have been directed at Senator McCain, whose lengthy pedigree has been touted regularly by his campaign and whose close connections with President Bush, and dozens of long-time Washington lobbyists and insiders, many of whom are currently working for his campaign, are well-known. In endorsing the nation's "desire" for change--Sen. Obama's signature theme since launching his campaign in 2007--Gov. Palin has, many speculate, made her sympathies in the upcoming election crystal clear.
At this time, no plans have been made for Gov. Palin to announce her formal endorsement of Sen. Obama.