Must- See Political theater : Diva Demands Exposure

All good dramas have characters who rivet the audience through various traits; a protagonist may be honorable to the point of personal sacrifice, charismatic, with an ability to inspire groups of people, or a common touch, conveying a sense of shared experiences with the audience. These qualities beget empathy, increasing affection for a character whom is easy to identify with. None of these role playing techniques have been lost on Camp McCain- Palin.

However, from the beginning Camp McCain deemed it best to keep Sarah Palin in the shadows, unveiling her under only the strictest, most controlled circumstances. The strategy was casting Palin in the role of "regular",attractive cheerleader. All second wing candidates serve at the pleasure of the one at the top of the ticket, fulfilling duties such as stump attack dog extraordinaire, assuring the American people he/she has the credentials to step into the role of President, should the most dreadful happen, and, perhaps, doing a little dance with the media to keep them ingratiated to the campaign, thus garnering favorable coverage. Sarah Palin has not been allowed to come out and play for the majority of this political season. She failed to play well with others when she was permitted to hop onto the public stage for a brief period, and her spontaneous moments caught on film are now legendary. The Pakistan contradiction debacle served as the genesis for this very site.

At first blush Sarah Palin appears to be a cute, non-threatening figure who may not have much wisdom to offer, a factor which automatically disqualifies her for Second in Command, but she doesn't present as someone who is dangerously aggressive. As we know, looks can be so deceiving.

As if the McCain campaign was not already painfully hemorrhaging in an uphill battle, Palin decided to break out of her confinement this week, giving an impromptu press conference on a tarmac in Colorado, courting journalists in order to get her opinions out there, basically doing the very things Camp McCain wanted her to avoid. It seems she feels she has been mishandled by the campaign, right from the beginning. She feels she has things of value to share, thank you very much. An investment was made to make her look the part, why shouldn't she get to play it?

The most salient problem with Palin's new found voice is this: she and McCain do not seem to be on the same page regarding a variety of issues. The question of Palin's suitability for the office of Vice Presidency has already been raised countless times; coming out in the public square to expressly disagree with her direct superior is an ill-advised move during the last two weeks of a hard fought campaign.

Sarah Palin's restlessness, combined with a lack of self discipline for controlling said restlessness, is evidence for why she was a mistake of epic proportions. The cynic in me, however, says she deserves more credit than we may be giving her. She may know exactly what she is doing. At this point, with the election all but lost, it is possible Palin has her gaze fixed somewhere beyond the 2008 horizon. She may beleive since this endeavor is doomed, she should seize the limited opportunity she still has to imprint herself into the public psyche. The bigger impression she makes in the present makes it that much easier to re-enter the national political arena at a later date. It also stands to reason she is one of those fourth quadrant persons, the ones who don't know what they don't know. McCain and company realized this early on, but Palin has stumbled along in this mode for so long she may be completely unaware. Perhaps her ego prevents her from recognizing her stunning deficits in domestic and foreign policy knowledge. One of her handlers, on an anonymous basis, of course, did label her a Diva.

As McCain careens, head first, to cross the finish line, Sarah Palin has turned this into a three legged race. She is discontented running behind McCain; she is now insisting she be allowed to run side by side, or, possibly ahead, of McCain, peer to peer, equal to equal. The only trouble with this demand is she obviously is not McCain's equal. Regardless of one's politics (mine could not be more diametrically opposed to McCain's if I tried), it can't be denied that McCain possesses some degree of experience which lends itself to claiming some political competencies. In this regard, Sarah Palin is not remotely in the same league. The original concern about the Palin folly involves McCain's judgment; selecting her, with the advanced knowledge of her insufficient credentials, leads one to ask the inevitable question. Why? Why would he have done this? The possible answers range from running a gimmick to appeal to women, or maybe a move to appease the ultra-conservative Republican base. Still, there are so many dimensions to the role of president, it must be noted that McCain may have considered one or two aspects that favored selecting Palin, but he did not account for all the potential pitfalls in this choice. In fact, no real research was done to learn about who Sarah Palin is. We are not in a time period where we can afford to have a one or two dimensional leader; we must have someone who covers all bases, no matter the time or effort this requires.