Sarah Palin, Commander in Chief

The Economist on Sarah Palin:

"Inexperienced and Bush-level incurious. She has no record of interest in foreign policy, let alone expertise. She once told an Alaskan magazine: “I’ve been so focused on state government; I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq.” She obtained an American passport only last summer to visit Alaskan troops in Germany and Kuwait. This not only blunts Mr McCain’s most powerful criticism of Mr Obama. It also raises serious questions about the way he makes decisions."

Now the inital excitement about Sarah Palin's selection by McCain has died down, we can take a more objective look at what she represents. And it isn't good. Forget her gender, forget the fact that her daughter is pregnant. Look instead at the candidate. This inexperienced governor from a highly atypical US state whose views on the nation and the world make George W Bush's look expansive could end up just a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Yes, she is photogenic. Yes, she can make a rousing speech in a room full of friends. If she wasn't able to do either of these two things, then she would still be a nobody governor from a nowhere state. But the role she is running to shadow requires a great deal more that just those two things. Her lack of experience could be spun so she is presented as the Washington outsider; that spin is blunted when you realise that, ideologically speaking, she is very similar to the incumbent President. Change will only come to America if the candidates concerned actually want change. If you put Bush Jr and Palin next to each other, the only real differences are cosmetic - she looks a lot less dumb than him. Ideologically, they stand shoulder to shoulder.

Much has already been made in this election of the similarities between real life and The West Wing: Barack Obama as Matt Santos, John McCain as Arnold Vinick; you could even cast Joe Biden as Leo McGarry. But Palin's sudden elevation to the national political stage reminds me more of another US political series - the far inferior Commander In Chief. In that, a typical, right wing Republican President puts a photogenic, maverick independent female on his ticket. He dies in office, and that Vice-President becomes President. It is tempting to point out the similarities between the premise of the show and the situation for the Republicans. The truth is that McCain is far closer to being the maverick independent, whilst Palin is the dyed in the wool, carbon copy Bush era Republican. If McCain is elected, and then shuffles off this mortal coil, America and the world will not thank him for his choice of Vice-President when they realise she is the same as what has gone before.

McCain has done himself, and his campaign, few favours with his selection of Vice-President.