Newswise — Sen. John McCain likes to say that his favorite president is Theodore Roosevelt. Consider this: when TR was selected to be the Republican vice-presidential candidate in 1900, he was 41 years old and had been governor of New York for a year-and-a-half. To the annoyance of the state's political bosses, he was an energetic reformer who insisted on fair and honest government practices. He was a renowned outdoorsman who delighted the public with tales of his six children.
A young reform governor with a large family and a love of the outdoors sounds a lot like Sarah Palin, doesn't it?
Granted, Gov. Palin is mostly unknown to the voters in the lower 48, but it's a pretty good bet that she'll bring a new excitement to American politics, not unlike the burst of energy the young governor from New York brought to the new American century in 1900.
This year's election is overwhelmingly about what George H.W. Bush once called "the vision thing." If experience was the first priority (or even second or third), there's no way the Democrats would have gotten into a frenzy over Barack Obama. As presidential nominees go, Sen. Obama is the least experienced candidate in modern U.S. history. To be sure, his degrees from Columbia and Harvard are impressive. From there, he became a "community organizer," and subsequently served in the Illinois state senate, where he abstained from voting no fewer than 130 times. Shortly after being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, he hit the road to run for president
All of which is not to say that Obama is not a compelling candidate. He certainly is. But his candidacy represents a vision, not a record of experience. Obama is young, energetic and eloquent with a delightful family and an interesting story to tell. As our first African-American presidential nominee, Obama embodies a vision of America eager to overcome its troubled racial history. As a Democrat, he is the preferred candidate of the party's anti-war wing, and he promises a return to traditional Democratic economic policies.
John McCain's service to the United States is a story like few others, but as a matter of style, he is not gifted at creating excitement. Thus, during the next two months all eyes will be on Sarah Palin, looking to see what kind of vision she represents to the American voter. Barring some major missteps (there will be plenty of "gotcha" questions thrown at Palin), Democrats should view her candidacy with trepidation.
As for experience, let's be clear: Palin ranks with Obama — although, importantly, he's running for the number one spot while she's running for number two. When Obama was community organizing during the mid-'90s, Palin entered elective politics and began learning the ropes of city and state government. She's been governor of Alaska for two years, an executive position charged with actually running a government. It should not be overlooked that governors don't have the luxury of voting to abstain.
Like Obama, Palin's strong suit is not her experience. Like him, she barely crosses the minimum threshold for national office. Instead, it's the vision she conveys that makes her a compelling candidate. The first woman on a Republican national ticket is not a frumpy old lady with an oversized handbag. Palin represents something wholly new on the national scene, rivaling the appeal of Barack Obama.
Think about it: Sarah Palin is a 44-year-old mother of five. She has a son going off to fight in Iraq next month. She has listened to a doctor tell her that her unborn child might suffer from Down's syndrome and she is familiar with the challenges of raising kids and having a career. She's rock-solid middle-class, not a millionaire like McCain and Obama. She knows the price of groceries and how much it costs to fill the tank. She bumped-up against the old-boy network and beat it, and she's supporting her pregnant 17-year-old daughter with unconditional love. Don't let anyone tell you — not for an instant — that Sarah Palin's not good on women's issues.
Palin enjoys hunting and fishing. She wants America to drill in Alaska and to move resolutely toward energy independence. She told Congress "thanks, but no thanks" when it appropriated money to build the infamous $400 million "Bridge to Nowhere." She used her veto power to reduce her state's budget by $124 million. When oil revenues filled her state's coffers, she refunded that money to taxpayers. Palin's America is one where the traditional civic virtues of self-reliance and meritorious character define citizenship. Palin's America is a lot like Ronald Reagan's America, but with a spokesperson like we've never seen before.
Will Sarah Palin pull some Hillary voters over to John McCain? Sure she will. How many? That's hard to say. But a bigger worry for the Democrats is this: Sarah Palin just might make it cool to be conservative. About the same time that Theodore Roosevelt was nominated to run for vice-president, the great Alaskan gold rush made Americans take notice of the immense natural resource to their north. It just might turn out that in the summer of 2008, John McCain also found gold in Alaska.
Brian F. Carso, Jr., Ph.D., is a political historian and an assistant professor of history and director of the pre-law program at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa.
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