DistortedSoul.com – The FUNK According to Nadir Omowale

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

Just a few hours after Barack Obama’s historic speech at Denver’s Mile High Stadium, John McCain shocked the world by choosing a first-term governor as his running mate.

That’s right. The real shocker isn’t that McCain chose a woman. Though few took it seriously, several women were named as possible McCain VP choices including Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

What was surprising was that with all the McCain campaign’s rhetoric about Obama being “dangerously inexperienced” he chose a relative political novice, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, as the person who should stand with him, “one heartbeat away from the White House.”

Is the experience argument now out the window?  I called MTV’s Street Team correspondent AlaskaDani, Dani Carlson, to get the 411 about Governor Palin.

Aside from the fact that Sarah Palin reminds me of a slightly older Dani Carlson, Dani has interviewed the Alaska Guv several times – including the interview piece that got her the Street Team gig – and Dani knows Alaska politics. (Check out Dani’s blog for her piece on the Palin nomination.)

So what’s up, Dani? Does this throw McCain’s whole “experience” argument out the window?

“[Palin] has definitely a lot more executive experience than either Obama or [Democratic VP nominee Joe] Biden or McCain,” Dani counters. “She’s been our governor since December 2006.

“That’s not to shove anybody around and say, ‘Well, they’re not experienced’, but all four of these major runners bring different things to the table.

“[Palin’s] kind of the flip side of Obama in that she may not have as much experience as the other guys, but she’s got such a great attitude. She draws in people like Obama does.

“Just as Obama has caused a phenomenon in his home state of Illinois, she’s caused a phenomenon in the state of Alaska, and I personally think that she’s going to be a phenomenon around the United States just like Obama has.”

And really, that’s what it comes down to, isn’t it? McCain’s choice of Palin is for purely political reasons. According to some reports, McCain had only met Palin once. This wasn’t one of his old war buddies or even one of his old Senate colleagues. Palin isn’t even a GOP veteran who has worked her way up the ranks. She is the new blood that is needed to reinvigorate the Republican ticket in the face of the more exciting and sexier Obama/Biden opposition. And perhaps she can pull some disgruntled Hillary Clinton fans along the way.

But don’t underestimate Sarah Palin’s strength as a candidate. Both Dani and I agreed that based on her record, her attitude and her temperament, Palin is in some ways a more attractive presidential pick than McCain, and that has nothing to do with her former beauty queen credentials.

Palin has a reputation as a maverick herself. She fought corruption in Alaska, and was opposed by old dog Alaska Republicans in her bid for Alaskan chief executive. One of her first acts as governor was to sell the private jet that Alaska’s previous governor had purchased because it was a waste of money. She earned a profit by selling it on eBay. If MBA George Bush were that fiscally conservative, the nation might not be in the economic state we’re in.

“I think that on the Democratic side of things, Biden is going to have to come in and help Obama out just as Palin has to come in and help McCain out,” Dani says. “No matter how people feel about the picks of president or vice-president, these are really good teams that we have. They’re going to be able to tag each other and help each other out where the other fails.

“Obama doesn’t have a lot of the experience. That’s why they brought in Biden. McCain doesn’t have youth on his side. That’s why he brought in Palin. He’s not as energetic or charismatic as she is.”

Let’s face it. John McCain was in trouble. McCain was out of touch. He has admitted that he doesn’t know much about the economy.

And then there’s his housing issue. The problem isn’t that he is so rich he owns seven houses. The problem is that he is so rich he doesn’t know how many houses he owns!

Palin is a soccer mom. She balances her job with a husband and five children, the youngest of whom has Downs Syndrome, and the oldest of whom is on his way to Iraq to fight in the war. Aside from the moose meat, Sarah Palin is a lot like other Americans.

As Democrats have stated in defense of Obama, the job of president is more about judgment than it is about experience. JFK didn’t have a lot of experience, but he is considered one of the best presidents. Bill Clinton didn’t have any national experience, but he helped lead the nation through one of its most prosperous financial periods. George W. Bush was an experienced business leader and governor of Texas, but look at his results.

The Palin pick gives the Republican Party a much needed shot of adrenalin. After Obama delivered an historic, almost iconic speech on Thursday, the GOP took over the news cycle simply by adding Palin to the ticket.

The question remains, is this a superficial political tactic, or did John McCain pick Palin because he agrees she is the best Republican to lead the nation should something happen to him? Perhaps only John McCain knows, but one thing is for sure. This election has become interesting again.

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