Just to let it all hang out. I am not particularly a Sarah Palin or John McCain fan. My feelings are mostly "lukewarm". There has been a few articles and blog posts that want to try to frame the argument as a succession planning issue, most notably here. Also, I have to give my wife the credit for shifting my thinking on this more than a bit (also to let me know when I get a bit aggressive).
After a couple of days of thinking about this (and some insightful comments by Lance Haun), let me tell you why I think McCain was thinking more about Talent aquisition and development than succession planning. The Republicans are getting old. Some would say that they have always been old, but the George W. Bush presidency has left the party without any talented Bullpen. There are no rising stars or youth to speak of that are particularly setting the party on fire.
So pretend that you are interviewing for your organization and you look around at all the "experts" and all you see is mediocrity and old ideas. When you see someone young and with the kind of grit Sarah Palin seems to have, do you wait for her to get the experience or put her where she can most benefit your organization immediately? Something about her impressed McCain enough to select her above plenty of other options. And honestly, if you were really paying attention to the Republican field in the primary you can see why they started thinking "outside" the box a bit. Most of that primary was just sad.
Americans honestly have always seen the Vice-Presidential slot as a developmental position anyway. Al Gore and George HW Bush have shown this to be true. It was George W. that broke the mold by selecting a VP that had no presidential designs or desire. Even if McCain only serves one four year term Palin would be approaching the leadership "sweet spot" as far as age. Maybe it IS time to think about the future a bit.
2 comments:
very thoughtful & balanced post, yo!
My wife does that to me...why I married her :)
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