McCain Rolls the Dice

Well, it looks like that John McCain is not washed up yet. Yesterday, he selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate for President. I think this is a good pick with some risks involved. However, McCain needed to do something to energize the GOP base, and this nomination achieves this. I have been critical of the GOP for the last couple of years. The party has been getting too staid, and fixed in their positions. Before this pick, the party looked old, the candidate looked old. I did not believe that the GOP would not have any energy at their convention. I told people that McCain needed to get someone out of the box to energize his campaign. Palin is definitely an out of the box pick. He has achieved the best of both worlds, he picked someone with strong conservative views to satisfy the base and also he can run as a "change" candidate by stressing reform of Washington. This aspect will attract independents. However, there are risks in this pick. Palin is a virtual unknown. She will have to convince us that she is comfortable in addressing issues with diplomacy, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation. The Dems will attack her as inexperienced and out of her league. Can she handle an international crisis or incident? What will be her reaction to a domestic crisis such as the housing problems, national debt, entitlement programs or natural disasters? This election will be historic and the most interesting one since 1992. I am going to enjoy this!