McCain: Oh, God. What Have I Done?!

Can’t a guy take a break to attend to some domestic issues without the entire American political system coming unraveled?! Geez! Where to begin?
Is this heaven?
Let’s go in order: Last Thursday night, Barack Obama too to the podium at Invesco Field in Denver and gave one of the most effective and profoundly impressive speeches in our lifetime. He was and said everything he had to. He was thorough and clear and specific as well as uniquely inspiring. More than anything, Obama squarely and aggressively challenged the Republican smear campaign machine to a brawl in the streets. Instead of waiting to be punched like Al Gore and John Kerry did, Obama cast the first blow in calling out the Bush administration for what it has been and is and seamlessly tying the new John McCain to it time and time again.

It was the first time I have ever been moved to tears by the prepared remarks of anyone. More than anything, as Obama ended his speech and was joined on stage by his family and by the Biden family, I was enormously proud; proud that I joined the Obama campaign on day one. I was proud to be a Democrat and proud of the change and reform that we have fought for as a party. I was proud to be part of a movement that was facilitating a lasting shift in thinking and philosophy in this country. Several times it occurred to me quite clearly that a black man is within spitting distance of the highest office in the world. It was impossible for me not to think of people like Rosa Parks, Emmitt Till, Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King.
Oh no he didn't!
Not long after waking up the next morning, word was spreading that John McCain had settled on a running mate. Mitt Romney? I figured! No? Tim Pawlenty, right? Could swing Minnesota red. Seriously? Certainly not, Joe Liebermann! Who? Sarah who? The Alaska chick? No, Seriously; who did he pick?

I must admit, as I heard the announcement that Palin had been chosen as McCain’s running mate I was thrilled. It made no sense. A couple hours later when I heard McCain and Palin make their first speech from Ohio, I was even more thrilled – almost giddy! They were targeting disenchanted Hillary voters! A pro-life, pro-gun, no sex-education in the schools, crimson red Republican being used to appeal to supporters of Hilary Clinton! Maybe God is a Democrat after all!
Oh no she didn't!
Then, as the weekend was kicking into holiday mode, news hits that Palin’s seventeen year-old daughter is knocked up. Is this heaven? Maybe a video on the birds and bees and couple condoms isn’t such a bad thing after all.

For the record, I believe that this should not be a story. Palin’s daughter should not spend another second under the media’s spotlight. It is however a story from two angles: first, it calls into question John McCain’s political judgment in choosing a first term governor from a small state with virtually no foreign policy experience. Then it is floated that he knew that her daughter was pregnant and chose her anyway. Did he not see how this might undermine the Republican co-op on values and play into the continued monopoly on hypocrisy on values? Within a matter of days, McCain took off the table the ‘Obama is inexperienced’ card and what was left of the family values card.

So now, as hurricane Gustav virtually eliminates the first day of the Republican National Convention, what could go wrong next for the Republicans? One things is for sure: if there is a group that could possibly squander a wealth of political gifts, it’s the Democrats.