Sarah Palin, You're No Hillary Clinton

Initially, I disagreed with Barack Obama's choice of running mate, but as I learned more about Joe Biden, and thought about the decision more, I realized that I did respect Obama's choice. He did what he seems to have always done: he stayed true to himself. Despite my disappointment that Hillary Clinton is not the Democrats' nominee, and my hesitation about voting for Obama, I respect him for exactly that that reason. (To be clear, I would never vote for McCain. My choice, until last night, was between voting for Obama and not voting at all.)

But I cannot respect McCain's decision. It seems painfully obvious that Palin was chosen not because she is the best candidate (can you honestly imagine this woman as president?) but because McCain is attempting to pander to the few Clinton supporters who remain unconvinced that Obama is a suitable choice. Let's face it, Palin is nothing close to Clinton. She doesn't support any of the policies Clinton would support. McCain's pandering is an implicit display of his disrespect for Clinton's supporters, but his choice of Palin feels like an embarrassingly explicit display of his outright contempt for them.

I am rather looking forward to watching Palin debate Joe Biden, though. Maybe we'll get to see another version of Lloyd Bentsen's hilarious but true remark to Dan Quayle twenty years ago. I still remember watching that on TV, even though I was only 9. I also remember my mother, who instituted in me a passion for politics that at a young age bordered on pathology, watching that debate and expressing rage and sadness at Quayle, for Bentsen was right. My mother loved and admired John F. Kennedy, and Quayle's comparison was insulting to Kennedy, and to intelligent people everywhere. Even if Obama hadn't impressed me last night, I would still vote for him simply as a show of defiance against what I believe is an insult to smart, hard-working, middle-class female Democrats. Let's just hope that we don't have to suffer through a re-run of the results of the 1988 election, because I for one would like to see our country improve, which I haven't seen happen since I was barely old enough to buy alcohol.