CSMS Magazine Staff writersIn a desperate attempt to shake up the November race, Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, has chosen little known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The news came out early this morning as a shocker to many, who are still grasping it while trying to understand the wisdom behind the dramatic pick.Sarah Palin is being described in the press as a “self-styled hockey mom” who was mayor of the town of Wasilla—a little town that time forgot with a population of 6,500. She ran the town until 2006, when she became governor ofAlaska.Reports say that Sarah Palin flew overnight to an airport inOhio near Dayton to join McCain for the stunning announcement. Already, critics are saying that McCain’s choice and subsequent announcement is a sneaky way to subdue whatever gains Barack Obama might have benefited from the lavishly, well crafted Democratic Convention that ended just few hours earlier. But choosing Palin, someone with so little experience in both national and foreign affairs may prove difficult for McCain to justify that his running mate is utterly qualified to assume the presidency in a moment notice. In choosing Palin, McCain “has failed the ultimate test that any presidential candidatemust face in picking a running mate: selecting someone who is unambiguously qualified to be President,” pointed out Mark Halperin, journalist from the Time Online. And Mark went on to add that “in the short term, the pick will create excitement among the kind of grass-roots conservatives who have never been enthusiastic about McCain …..But Palin is now going to have to perform at a very high level to persuade the media and the public that she is truly ready to be a heartbeat away – and a 72-year-old’s heart at that – from the presidency.”Sarah Palin is not a saint, and she, just like all other politicians, has had her own issues with the law. More recently, she has been under the scrutiny of an investigation by the Alaskan legislature, which looked into the possibility that she ordered the dismissal of Alaska’s public safety commissioner because he would not fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper.McCain knows that the political tide this time around hardly favors Republicans, so he is counting on “spectacular” moves like this one in the hope of preempting Obama in hotly contested states like Alaska or Florida or Pennsylvania or Ohio.We’ll be watching.Also see Barack Obama rocked the house last night A text message that kept the world guessing for more than 72 hours As Barack Obama ends his historic trip abroad, serious questions arise over his antiwar credentials Barack Obama rocks the Middle East and Europe Obama’s candidacy and the bittersweet feeling within the African American leadership When will race seize to be the cornerstone of American politic? Hillary Clinton’s Paranoia and the Democrats Dilemma Hillary Clinton wants to clinch the nomination at all costIs Barack Obama unstoppable after his stunning victory in Iowa last week? The Obama campaign plunges deeper into the defensive after the Nevada lost last Saturday
McCain’s VP pick: A flap?
