A Brief Review on Sarah Palin (2008)

A Brief Review on Sarah Palin (2008)

        About one decade ago, the United States of America received news that the Governor of Alaska and occasional moose hunter was on the Republican ticket for the 2008 election. Sarah Palin's presence on the stage with John McCain was one that surprised many people but was also seen to be a good strategic choice on the campaign's part by a handful of others. Being the possible future vice president of the United States, Sarah Palin had certain likable qualities relating to her being a woman as well as her being a fresh face in general to the Washington D.C. political scene. However, her campaign would eventually prove to be difficult once going against her opponents. 

        One of Sarah Palin's significant qualities regarded her simply being a woman listed on the Republican ticket alongside Senator John McCain. In fact, Palin became the first woman for a Republican presidential campaign ever. This was then used to, hopefully, detract the strong spotlight of Hillary Clinton and how she could have the chance of being the first woman president. In regards to Palin's other opponent, Senator Barack Obama, Palin's gender was used to appeal to the women who supported Obama.

        In addition to Palin being a woman, the governor was simply a new and fresh face. Being the Governor of Alaska, her downright distance from the nation's capital of Washington D.C. served as an image as to how "new" she appeared to be to most of the American public. This would be compared to Hillary Clinton being the former First Lady of the United States and Obama being the U.S. Senator from Illinois. In addition to her location, her personality and background was one that was seemingly unique and rather unheard of. As evidenced by her nomination acceptance speech, Palin's attitude and choice of talking points allowed her to form a connection with the audience. To provide a brief example, when discussing the happenings in Iraq, Palin made sure to add that her son was to be relocated to Iraq himself. Palin also appealed to many Republican voters by openly discussing her relationship with Christianity and how her views have affected her life in addition to how her views would impact her actions if in office as the Vice President of the United States.

        Even though there were many qualities of Palin that seemed desirable, she would prove to have trouble when speaking against Senator Barack Obama. Palin could not successfully discuss Obama's supposed inexperience as a politician compared to herself. Such a tactic would ultimately fail, because, for example, Obama's membership to the Illinois Senate began in 1997 whereas Palin's governorship only began in late 2006.

        Overall, the choice to nominate Sarah Palin as Vice President of the United States was a surprising but strategic choice by the McCain team. Her likable qualities of her personality, background, freshness to the political scene in Washington D.C., and being the first Republican woman to be a vice presidential candidate proved to not win her the vote in the 2008 election against the experienced, sturdy base of the Obama campaign.

Sources:

http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837510,00.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/20/sarah-palins-son-and-the-link-between-combat-duty-and-veteran-violence/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.27c3560f3d48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MwAHP0jssY