Palin’s Appeal: Dems Do Damage Control
Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden issued the following statement on Sarah Palin:
“We send our congratulations to Governor Sarah Palin and her family on her designation as the Republican nominee for Vice President. It is yet another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics. 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.”
That’s quite a turnaround since this statement by Obama spokesman Bill Burton:
“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies; that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same,” said Bill Burton, Obama Campaign Spokesman.
This shows the difficult position Gov. Palin puts Democrats in. If they attack her, they’ll alienate more women than they’ve already alienated. If they don’t attack Gov. Palin, Hillary’s supporters will ask why Gov. Palin gets the kid glove treatment but Hillary got attacked.
I think it’ll soon be apparent that Gov. Palin isn’t a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Oil. When that falls to the side, people will start looking at Gov. Palin’s record of reforms and accomplishments and her bipartisanship. Sen. Obama’s resume will look thin compared with Gov. Palin’s.
One other thing that’s gotta scare Democrats is her expertise on energy policy. Gov. Palin dealt with that issue alot as Alaska’s governor. When Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden talk energy policy, they talk about it through the perspective of the environmentalist lobby’s eyes. When Gov. Palin talks energy policy, she talks from the perspective of talking to oil executives, of having visited Prudhoe Bay and Alaska’s North Slope. Her husband is a member of the United Steel Workers Union, where he works on Alaska’s North Slope.
In other words, she can dispel the myths about ANWR and drilling on the OCS. That will go a long ways towards winning that argument for Republicans. In addition to that, Alaska is now building a natural gas pipeline. As a hunter, she can talk credibly about the effects the original pipeline has had on caribou herds.
Going forward, Democrats will have to measure their words lest they totally alienate Hillary’s supporters. In fact, Hillary’s statement was pitch perfect:
“We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin’s historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain,” she says. “While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”
Saying that this hasn’t been a good week of messaging for Team Barry is understatement.
Technorati Tags: Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Burton, Personal Attacks, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Hockey Moms, Soccer Moms, Hillary, Gender Gap, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog