Sarah Barracuda & The Red Meat Ramblers

Thursday, September 4, 2008 | 6:20 PM

By Sarah Scully
Given the amount of red meat dished out last night, it seemed best to let it digest overnight before attempting to blog about it. Last week, Barack Obama reinforced his bridge across the aisle by trotting out various Republican supporters and honoring McCain's military record. He tried to strike a balance by appealing to Independents and moderate Republicans with an attack that was less about party identity than singling out the bad apple that is the Bush administration. The GOP took the opposite tack on Wednesday night, with a line-up of Red Meat Ramblers who revived the dialect of the 1990s partisan wars. Given that the whole purpose of a convention is to rally the base, it is appropriate that the GOP draped the convention center in red and made the week a celebration of traditional Republican values, but could the partisan fervor turn off the voters in the middle who may be deciding the outcome of the race?
The roster of McCain's former competitors, Romney, Huckabee and Guiliani singing the praises of the Arizona Senator and sucker punching Democrats in the same spot in quick succession provided a powerful image of unity with a sincerity that was lacking in the Clinton appearances in Denver. Yes, the expectations were high, but the crowd was ready to carry Sarah Palin through the streets of Saint Paul all the way to DC before she even took the stage. Her assignment was written on the wall the day she was selected and repeated again and again by network pundits (who performed the same review session for Obama the previous week): 1. Introduce yourself with an inspiring explanation of your values and defense of your record. 2. Demonstrate that you are as confident and tough as Joe Biden, capable of whupping him in a debate. She got an Incomplete on the first half of the assignment and an A on the second.
The question that still needs answering is: Who is she and what kind of leader would she be? I've no doubt she could have answered this with sufficient gusto but she chose not to. We did hear a little about her disabled son, her enlisted son, her loyal husband and her middle class parents- but that provided an opening for critics to point out the hypocrisy in exploiting certain aspects of her personal life while reacting with outrage at discussion of her daughter's pregnancy (an issue she could have used to exemplify her compassionate conservatism). Palin spent the majority of the nearly 40-minutes oration on the attack. After likening herself to a pitbull in lipstick, she tore into the media, the Washington establishment, the Democratic party, Barack Obama (without mentioning his name specifically) and, oddly enough, community organizers. As in any compelling narrative, the protagonist needs to be developed before we witness their heroics, otherwise the actions have no context. John McCain is not an idiot nor has he given up, contrary to what some fringe lefties are blogging. He chose this woman with good reason and vetted her to the degree he felt necessary. To be sure, Sarah Palin is a talented, forthright speaker and a highly intelligent person but this is not a revelation nor is it a rare quality among elected officials. It should never have been a question of whether she was some backwoods neophyte who would embarrass the party. There has been a lot of talk of sexism, elitism and regionalism in the coverage of Palin but doesn't the fact that her own party was so bowled away merely by her ability to throw a punch betray a double standard? She was hailed as "Sarah Barracuda." Is it possible for a woman to succeed in political leadership without being compared to a violent animal? Why should it be so surprising that a rural mother of five from a working class family could deliver such a forceful blow? If we are to measure her on the same scale as a man, is it possible her speech would have been as well received, had it been delivered by Mitt Romney? Vice Presidential candidate's are traditionally supposed to do the dirty work or "play the attack dog" as the pundits say, but that is not their sole task. They must demonstrate the very same ability to lead as the President.