Lightning Strikes Randomly Sometimes

Once upon a time, there was a female candidate for Vice-President. She had little experience on the national stage. However, she added excitement to the campaign of an older, more experienced yet dull candidate. The year was 1984. The candidate was Geraldine Ferraro. In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro had been a U.S. Representative for six years. That was the sum and substance of her experience as an elected official.

Fast forward 24 years. Sarah Palin is nominated as John McCain's running mate. Liberals are outraged. How can someone whose only experience consists of being a small town mayor and governor for two years be qualified to be next in line to be president? Let's state the obvious here. Sarah Palin was not the most experienced Republican, or even the most experienced Republican woman, to be nominated as Vice-President. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and Elizabeth Dole both had better credentials. However, Sarah Palin was an articulate, attractive, post-feminist, Middle-America candidate who could add excitement to the McCain candidacy.

Is this unfair? Consider that the Democrats have nominated a charismatic four year Senator anchored by a Vice-Presidential candidate with decades of experience. The Republicans have nominated a Presidential candidate with decades of experience propped up by an exciting yet inexperienced Vice-Presidential nominee. There is a certain yin and yang here. Presidential campaigns are rarely won by experienced yet unexciting candidates. Otherwise Walter Mondale and Bob Dole would have been president. The race for President is akin to the finals of American Idol, except that each team has two players. Both tickets contain experience and excitement. This will make it a horserace to the end.

Neither Geraldine Ferraro nor Sarah Palin was the most qualified candidate to be Vice-President. However, to be the first of anything is as much about being in the right place at the right time as it is about merit. Sometimes symbolism is more important than substance. In this election year, the symbolism of a butt-kicking hockey mom who rose from the PTA to national prominence is the counterpart to the plucky, young son of a Kansas mother and a Kenyan father who was raised in Indonesia and Hawaii and achieved excellence at Harvard and in Chicago. Both exemplify elements of the American dream.

On an unrelated note, I had the opportunity to meet Geraldine Ferraro in 1982 when I spent a semester in Washington. I found her to be unimpressive. She spoke about how difficult it was for a female candidate to be elected. However, the briefing materials provided to us stated that she had outspent her male opponent by a ratio of 6:1. When questioned about this, she gave an evasive answer. Perhaps she said that if she had been a man instead of a woman, she would have raised even more. I am not sure any more. However, it does show that someone can be plucked out of obscurity and then return there or can achieve lasting fame. However, the whole process ia about as random as being struck by lightning.