In short, Sarah Palin is the emblem of what feminism was supposed to be all about: an unafraid, independent, audacious woman, who soared on her own merits without the aid of a patriarchal jumpstart, high-brow matrimonial tutelage and capital, and old-boy liaisons and networking. For the rest of this guys take on McCain's VP pick, click here. And if anyone believes Govenor Palin's spot on the GOP all-star team is not about abortion, check this out.
Meanwhile, Time Magazine discusses how Team Barack is handling this latest curve ball:
Nobody was more surprised by John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate than the people who run the Barack Obama's campaign. "I can honestly say that we weren't prepared for that," says David Axelrod, Obama's top strategist. "I mean her name wasn't on anybody's list. It was a surprise to a lot of Republicans as well."
Their shock was evident in their initial, clumsy reaction, a hard-hitting two sentence statement from Obama spokesman Bill Burton which included this zinger: "Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency." Eighty-six minutes later, the campaign corrected course, issuing a second statement from both Obama and his running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden: "While we obviously have differences over how best to lead this country forward Governor Palin is an admirable person and will add a compelling new voice to this campaign."
Later that afternoon, Obama, almost apologetically, explained the discrepancy: "You know campaigns start getting these hair triggers and the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments." The do-si-do by the campaign reflects their initial uncertainty on how to deal with Palin, a rare moment of unsure footing for the usually flawlessly managed 19-month-old operation.
The dilemma the campaign has about how to deal with the sudden emergence of this political superstar comes down to this: it possibly can't ignore her, but going after her directly could easily backfire. If anything, the past week has shown that Palin wears a similar coat of Teflon as Obama. Just as many of Obama's opponents suddenly found themselves accused of playing the race card, many of Palin's supporters have been quick to accuse Dems of outrageous sexism in the frontal assault on Palin's record and family.
Still, given her attacks on Obama, his campaign will have a hard time resisting the urge to respond head on. Many observers had assumed that the choice of Palin would effectively take the McCain campaign's experience argument off the table. But the Republicans have shown no such reluctance, continuing to claim that Palin's eight years as a small-town mayor and two years as Alaska Governor make her more qualified than Obama with his seven years in the Illinois Senate and three years in the U.S. Senate — or even Biden with his 35 years in the U.S. Senate.