Barack Obama did what most Democratic presidential nominees do when called upon to pick a vice presidential nominee:  he picked a "safe" white man.  White men are perceived as being inherently safe, while anyone who is not a white man is perceived as being inherently less safe simply by virtue of not being a white man.  That's what we're struggling against.  (At least SOME of us are, while the rest are viciously opposed to the concept that there ought to be demographic representation in government.)

From a substantive political justice standpoint, isn't it really outrageous not to have a woman on the ticket when women are 59% of voters and 53% of the country?  Doesn't an all-male ticket just throw demographic representation out the window?

From a tactical standpoint, when Barack Obama chose Biden, it might have seemed like it was reasonable not to try to change too much too fast.  But it was also foreseeable that the Republican response to an all-male Democratic ticket would be to nominate a woman and make the Democrats look like the party of patriarchy.  I wrote as much in an essay at July of 2006, before I had my own blog.

So, now it seems to me that Obama has lost some of the tactical advantage of being the Party of inclusion and "making history" and even of demographic change.  What he has left is being the representative of the party that has its head on straight with respect to Iraq, the economy, taxation of the rich, and everything else the Republicans have royally screwed up during the last eight years.

As a born & raised Alaskan, today has been tumultuous day.

My cell started ringing at ass-crack:30 this morning (Alaska is -1 Pacific, -4 ET) with the rumor mill, and then a little later the confirmed WTF calls. Friends and family from all over the country calling to ask about our Gov.

It was of course impossible to go back to sleep after that, so I've been tired all day. But lack of sleep isn't what caused the looming sense of dread I've felt all day.

Ok, this is not reassuring. In an attempt to sooth any nerves about Sarah Palin's readiness in international affairs, McCain Charlie Black told the New York Times that, sure, they think McCain will live the next four years

Not all the Conservatives are completely bonkers.  

David Frum is someone I normally detest in a very special way.  Today's column is well worth a read for more than this: Ms. Palin's experience in government makes Barack Obama look like George C. Marshall.  The full column @ http://www.nationalpost.com/nationalpost /story.html?id=756704 , read it for yourselves.  

After the bump I'll save you the trek to The Corner for his quick take, which is also rather savoury.

This is just a word of advice to all Democratic politicians.

If there is any flooding in the below sea level portions of New Orleans all our politicians need to remember one thing.

Whatever you do future politicians you MUST CRY.  Bite your tongue do what you must but you MUST CRY.  Onions are your friend.

Its too late to shed KATRINA tears but GUSTAV tears are almost as effective and if you CRY during GUSTAV and wear 2 different sets of clothing you may be able to convince people that you actually cried during KATRINA and earn your get out of racist free card.

We cannot as a party accept the ongoing racism of NON CRIERS.

And for God's sake if by chance there is an onion shortage and you are unable to shed GUSTAV tears you must swear a solemn oath never to cry ever again.  Even if opponents and press say you are horrible divisive figure and no one likes you.

No GUSTAV tears no crying ever again or you are just insulting KATRINA survivers in a racist way.

This has been a public announcement of the non racist movement.

I surfed over to Alegre's Corner to this diary ....

http://alegrescorner.soapblox.net/showDi ary.do?diaryId=849

I understand that these women are upset, but several were talking about voting for MCain because of Palin. I noticed that most of them were calling themselves feminists, so I decided to actually post and see if I could inject a little balance into the discussion.

I first tried to explain that Obama wasn't a party hack because Hillary had most of the superdelgates, 90% of the Black vote and endorsements of most of the Black politicians before Iowa .I then when on to note that it was a bloody primary and both side's hands were dirty.
I posted a 2 paragraph blurb where I briefly covered the following six points:

It's hard to believe the McCain team really believes they can poach many Clinton supporters by putting a Pat Buchanan pro-Creationism gun-toting Evangelical on the ticket, but clearly the Palin pick was geared to excite the extreme base.  In that sense, it is far from the maverick pick and is a complete sell-out to the part of the GOP that already has alienated many of the moderate wing who at one time saw McCain as their hope.  We've already seen Jim Leach and Eisenhower's granddaughter endorse Obama.  I wonder what the effect of this pick will have on other bigger names who have been sitting on the fence, names like Hagel, Lugar, Specter, and Colin Powell - people who have a working relationship with Obama already and are big supporters of Joe Biden. Could the desertion of a few of them from the GOP ranks move a couple of swing states into the Obama corner?  

This is an exciting campaign. No doubt about it. But while the players look and sound different, the message stays the same.

Sarah Palin is inexperienced. Yeah... so what. She's untested, that's for sure. So look for the next news stories to cast aspersions on her ethics fight. Oh wait... trooper-gate in Alaska. Gasp! Then there's her stand on choice, but even then she's got Obama beat. In fact, that's a national discussion that's not for the faint of heart.  Oh, by the way, did I mention? She's a woman!

Sorry guys... when this all shakes out, it's about the economy. And if the Dems are serious about winning, they better pivot back to it whenever they can. It's simplistic, for sure. But if there was ever a time to use the key buzzwords it's now. What's in your wallet/bank account/401K retirement plan/refrigerator/prescription drawer?