Back when no one was sure who John McCain would pick for his VP spot, I was actually hoping that he would pick Sarah Palin. I didn’t know much about her, but I really believed a woman was a good choice, especially one with a 90 percent approval rating in her own state.
Now, I am not a Republican or a Democrat and frankly see myself as an independent. However, I do think it is time for the US to have a female vice president or president.
Today, I realize that strategically, Palin was probably the wrong choice. Many political analysts claim that Lieberman and Romney would have been a better choice. I beg to differ. I still strongly feel that McCain was right to pick a female candidate. According to polls, right after he chose Palin, his support increased amongst female voters and even surpassed Obama’s. Women started getting turned off once they found out more about Palin. It was first her lack of experience that concerned them, but as soon as they found out her views, women just could no longer support McCain.
I remember being puzzled by this. I mean, yes, Palin is conservative, but shouldn’t women commend McCain for picking a woman, especially when sexism is still so prevalent? Now I understand why those women were so turned off by her. Sarah Palin is not considered “˜just a conservative’ by many, but rather a fundamentalist. Being pro-life is one thing, but believing that abortion should not be allowed in cases of rape or incest? That goes against everything women have always fought for. Maybe that’s why they couldn’t have had the same empathy toward Palin that I did.
I still believe that McCain should have picked a conservative woman with political expertise like Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina (though the latter might have been a bit too liberal for some Republicans), both of whom are economically savvy as well. The conservative woman best for McCain should probably have held political beliefs along the lines of President Bush or Mitt Romney. After all, conservative Republicans overwhelmingly voted for Romney during the primaries. They rejected Mike Huckabee, whose views are very similar to Palin’s. A moderate conservative woman with experience in the financial sector would have still brought out many female voters and even a few Hillary supporters. The choice would have been comfortable enough for independent voters to vote for McCain, and probably would be sufficient to appease Christian fundamentalists (even if they weren’t as excited as they were with Palin).
I am not sure if the right vice president would have made McCain the winner. I’m not an economist, but I somehow doubt the economy’s collapse can be blamed solely on the Bush administration’s policies. But naturally people blame those in power, so I doubt McCain had much of a chance to win. The country desperately wanted a Democrat in the White House and it was against all odds for him. To be fair, Palin did make great improvements in the state of Alaska and she also was the first female vice presidential nominee on a Republican ticket. The biased and sexist way she and Hillary were treated should be condemned.
I hope President-elect Obama officially chooses Hillary as his Secretary of State. But I regret that for the next four years we will not have a female vice president or president. As for Palin, I hope she will be able to contribute to this country in some way. However, picking her as the vice presidential nominee was not the right move strategically. McCain and I were wrong on that one.
Kaufman graduated from UCLA in 2002.