We've all heard it. "Joe Biden needs to be careful in this debate. He can't be too condescending. He can't be too aggressive. He can't attack too much. He needs to hold back. He has to be careful with his words. He should just focus on McCain." Every single pundit who's commented on the upcoming Vice-Presidential debate, has uttered one (or some variation) of those phrases. I've heard it from "strategists" on the left and the right. Now obviously in any debate, there are extremes you can't go to. We demand a certain level of civility from our politicians (at least when they are debating face to face). McCain very well may have lost his debate because he was too condescending and had a poor attitude towards Obama. But with Biden the advice isn't to just stay within the boundaries of political etiquette. With Biden the generally accepted wisdom is that he needs to treat Palin with kid gloves because she's a woman.
If Sarah Palin was a man, the advice given to Biden would be much different. He would be told to expose her (er...him), he would be told to attack Palin's utter lack of experience, attack Palin's flip flops, and attack Palin's views. Again, he might be told try to not be unlikeable or to insult Palin personally, but his mission would be to ensure that by the end of the night the viewing public didn't see Palin as a credible Vice Presidential candidate. And if a man had Palin's experience, they wouldn't. Instead in all likelihood, Biden is going to ignore Palin as far as possible (other than a little eye contact so he doesn't look like McCain). And everybody's okay with this? I thought we were past this. Doesn't anybody remember the last 19 months?
We are just a couple months removed from the end of Hillary Clinton's historic primary race. In which she demanded to be, and was for the most part (at least by the other candidates) treated just like everybody else. Hillary participated in 20 plus debates, and the other candidates didn't pull their punches. Sure from time to time Bill would grouse about the boys ganging up on his wife, but that didn't stop them. The democratic primary debates were serious debates between serious people who were vying to be (among other things) Commander in Chief. It would have been ridiculous to suggest that Hillary couldn't be attacked in the debates, or that the other candidates somehow had to hold back lest they reveal any gaps in knowledge that could make her look bad. Remember this:
Obama attacked Hillary on Walmart, and she hit right him back with Rezko. It was Hillary herself who said, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen; I'm very much at home in the kitchen." And if for a second she showed that she needed special treatment, her campaign would have been over. Palin, on the other hand, cannot stand the heat, and yet instead of kicking her out of the kitchen, we're turning down the temperature of the oven (I may have strained that metaphor, but you know what I mean). When she inevitably attacks Obama (perhaps on Rezko, maybe even on Wright), Biden is going to give a pained smile, and try and change the subject to John McCain instead of hitting her back with Trooper-gate and the Alaska Independence Party.
Politically, the pundits may be right. The public may recoil at Biden speaking to Palin as he would a colleague in the senate, male or female, or a male opponent in a presidential race. But that's disappointing because I thought we were further than this.
Sarah Palin is the exact opposite of everything Hillary in almost every way. It cracks me up (sardonic laughter) when I hear conservatives mention how they admire Palin because she made it to be where she is on her own and not through who her husband is (obviously a subtle dig at Hillary), these are the same people who will call Obama an Affirmative Action candidate. They seem to forget (blatantly ignore) that John McCain handed Palin a spot on his ticket as a cynical political stunt, she didn't earn it, and every rational expert agrees that she isn't qualified for it. Hell, she can't even stand on equal footing for her debate.