Palin makes Hillary a Double-Edged Sword for Obama

I must admit that I had been hoping McCain would have the courage to choose a woman as his running mate, but I truly did not expect it. Although I would have preferred Christine Todd Wittman who, on all levels, is more qualified than Palin, I think it is, nonetheless, a coup for the Repugs. And the timing was a lot better than that 3AM text page of Obama's (a juvenile, sophomoric insulting trick): it takes some of the wind out of the earth shattering nature of Obama's nomination.

Obama's supporters have long been complaining that Hillary and Bill aren't working hard enough for him and if he loses, Hillary will be responsible (Obama, of course, bears absolutely no responsibility for his success or failure). But with the nomination of Palin (not a woman whose policies I support), Hillary becomes even more problematic for Obama. She is a superb campaigner and incredibly policy-smart. No matter how often she mentions Obama in a speech, her supporters (the ones who are, at best, lukewarm on Obama) can't help but be struck by the contrast in skills and intelligence with Palin whom Hillary outshines by a light-year. And what will they see? That Obama lacked the courage to do what McCain did: pick not only a woman, but a supremely qualified woman, the woman who got more votes than he did and, if one subtracted Cook County from the equation, would have had the nomination.

In addition, Obama's people can't criticize Palin for a lack of experience without bringing into the strong light of day just how little experience Obama has. If we're going to have a lightweight in the White House, I suspect most of us would prefer it to be the Veep, not the Pres.

Finally, if Obama loses in November, this should give Hillary a lock on the 2012 nomination.