Sarah Palin: Asset or Ball and Chain?

The number two in the Republican ticket who has looked like a featherbrain, is the true star of the presidential campaign.

Incompetent, ignorant, and inexperienced. Sarah Palin, the number two in the Republican ticket, has not been accepted by the American political commentators. A handicap for presidential candidate John McCain? Not necessarily! Some believe that she could even be an asset. She will get to respond in the televised debate against Barack Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden.

Journalist Myriam Meuwly does not need this debate to form an opinion. “The surprise Palin element is in the process of waning. In late September, nobody knew her. She seduced with her charisma. You felt like you wanted to have coffee with her. But when she began to give interviews, one noticed that her performance was quite awful. Palin is Obama’s luck. McCain has insulted women and voters by presenting a running mate who is such a weak candidate.

A Meager Business Card

Columnist of the Canadian newspaper La Presse, Alain Dubuc wrote with an exaggerated tone: “Sarah Palin, 44 years, will be a scary figure from now on. Americans have understood that if 72-year-old McCain were to die, she would become president!” A potential president whose business card is hard to see and perceive – former beauty queen, mayor of a town of 7,000 inhabitants, Governor of Alaska – who compiles a series of blunders. She believes herself to be such an expert on Russia simply because it is the country closest to her house!

“Beware,” says Xavier Comtesse, Swiss (French-speaking region) director of the Institute of Thought, Avenir Suisse. “Incompetence is dismissed and in the United States, what counts is not lying. And Sarah Palin takes on everything.” Alain Dubuc will say that the, “ignorance of Palin reassures Americans. It is the myth of the taxi driver who possesses the truth. And the belief of people who are relatively mediocre. They distrust someone who is educated and cultivated. They prefer those who are like us.”

And, as the political scientist from the Institute of High International Studies and Development of Geneva, Daniel Warner says, “Sarah Palin corresponds to the heart of America. She comes from a small town, has not had stellar education and does not have much money. Her husband is a fisherman, she has five children, some of whom have encountered some challenges. She is against the elite of Washington, symbolized by the Biden-Obama ticket.”

She Appeals to Cowboys

Sarah Palin has another advantage: she’s a woman! “Obama threw McCain a lifeline when Hillary Clinton was left on the sidelines, says the former National Advisor Barbara Polla. The Republicans benefited from that: it’s nice to have a woman. Especially when she is able to attract cowboys while being both subdued to McCain from a political point of view, and independent enough to say silly things that actually make her more likeable.”

Sarah Palin, asset or handicap, the opinions are divided. The debate could be important. “The level will not be very high,” predicts Daniel Warner. TSR correspondent in the United States, Sébastien Faure adds that “Joe Biden, much more experienced, should not be too aggressive and beat on her too strongly. Otherwise, he will seem like a bully. And all this will benefit the young mother of the perfect family.”