A Good Night For Obama



What will the Saturday Night Live opening do to the Sarah Palin interview?

Not only did Senator Obama last night nail the ServiceNation Presidential Forum, but Governor Palin continued to show that she is not-yet-ready-for-prime-time. The Charlie Gibson interview was -- how does one say this politely? -- painful. With all due respect to the Governor, there is probably only so much one person can prep on in a few weeks to surmount the international relations learning curve. But: "Bush Doctrine?" This is not just information that a running mate should have, but even a moderately informed voter should be able to finesse such a question. Conservatives and Evangelicals, who get their marching orders from the pulpit and from the radio will be immune to any objectivity as to her performance, but what about the moderates?

Much ado has been made of what happens when Presidential campaigns zero-in on the running mate choice and not the top of the ticket -- the Bush/Quayle, Nixon/Agnew victories are often cited as examples. It is hard, though, not to focus on Governor Palin's obvious incompetence. As ridiculous as Senator Obama's gaffe on the Jerusalem issue was, Palin's ad nauseum repetition of not "second guessing" Israel can only be construed as naught else but sound byte politics. And the fact that a sitting governor does not have an original thought on the Middle East situation -- the issue of our day, foreign-policywise -- is, at the very least, troubling.

That having been said, Palin's energizing of the conservative base has quite possibly come at the cost of the moderates. Overall it was a good night for Senator Obama.