Sarah Palin: The Next Cheney
Rather than painting Sarah Palin as a bumbling incompetent, I think the Obama campaign needs to turn the tables, and start making the following argument:
Palin is the next Cheney. She has a lot in common with him. First, she believes she is above the law and that executive power is not subject to any outside limitation (see Troopergate). Second, she brooks no disagreements from subordinates and has wielded her power in a bullying fashion against those in her own administration who questioned her, rather than listening to their concerns. Third, she is an ideological extremist, attempting to ban books at her local library, someone who actively supports a church in which disagreements with the Bush administration are viewed as sins that will send you to hell.
Finally, and most importantly, she is already more powerful than her running mate. It is her agenda and policies that are now running the nominal "McCain campaign." McCain has revealed himself to be a weak leader, caving in to pressure from the extreme wing of the party. Palin has the rabid support and loyalty of the base; McCain does not. He is an isolated and impotent figurehead, a stranger in his own party. In power, then, it would be Palin setting the course for the administration. Given her support from the right-wing base, she will be determining who gets appointed to important government positions.
The point should be that if you want to have four more years of our federal government being run by ideological zealots whose first allegiance will be to the VP, and not to the good of the country -- then vote for Palin/McCain.
It's time to stop playing into the "victim" and "outsider" narratives that Palin is exploiting, and time to start emphasizing the incredible power that she will be wielding if she comes to office, given McCain's weakness and lack of a real constituency in his own party. That's downright scary, not innocuous.
This line of attack takes advantage of all the excitement and idolatry for Palin, and steers it to Obama's advantage, showing it to be a dangerous cult of personality.
Palin is the next Cheney. She has a lot in common with him. First, she believes she is above the law and that executive power is not subject to any outside limitation (see Troopergate). Second, she brooks no disagreements from subordinates and has wielded her power in a bullying fashion against those in her own administration who questioned her, rather than listening to their concerns. Third, she is an ideological extremist, attempting to ban books at her local library, someone who actively supports a church in which disagreements with the Bush administration are viewed as sins that will send you to hell.
Finally, and most importantly, she is already more powerful than her running mate. It is her agenda and policies that are now running the nominal "McCain campaign." McCain has revealed himself to be a weak leader, caving in to pressure from the extreme wing of the party. Palin has the rabid support and loyalty of the base; McCain does not. He is an isolated and impotent figurehead, a stranger in his own party. In power, then, it would be Palin setting the course for the administration. Given her support from the right-wing base, she will be determining who gets appointed to important government positions.
The point should be that if you want to have four more years of our federal government being run by ideological zealots whose first allegiance will be to the VP, and not to the good of the country -- then vote for Palin/McCain.
It's time to stop playing into the "victim" and "outsider" narratives that Palin is exploiting, and time to start emphasizing the incredible power that she will be wielding if she comes to office, given McCain's weakness and lack of a real constituency in his own party. That's downright scary, not innocuous.
This line of attack takes advantage of all the excitement and idolatry for Palin, and steers it to Obama's advantage, showing it to be a dangerous cult of personality.
