The search for someone to blame for John McCain‘s defeat was well under way yesterday. Many fingers, not surprisingly, were pointed at Sarah Palin.
Actually, the Palin scapegoating began before the polls even opened, with top McCain staffers complaining that the Alaska governor was a “diva” given to straying “off message.”
Nonsense.
True, she turned out not to be the magic bullet Republicans had hoped for.
Then again, John McCain turned out not to be the asset Republicans had hoped for. Terming his performance – and that of the campaign itself – lackluster sort of understates the case.
Moreover, McCain & Co. knew there was a risk with Palin (including in giving away one of their strongest arguments against Obama: his lack of experience).
And blame for that properly devolves to John McCain and his aides.
They’re the ones who reached out to Palin – a figure whom McCain admitted he “didn’t know . . . well at all” – and tapped her for the veep spot. Nor was it a rush decision: Palin got tapped long after McCain had clinched the nomination.
The choice was intended to bring a fresh face to the ticket, and to generate enthusiasm in the Republican base.
And that’s precisely what she did.
Indeed, for all the Tina Fey parodies on “Saturday Night Live,” it’s clear that Palin struck a chord, drawing huge crowds in the heartland. “One of the best campaigners I’ve ever seen,” McCain called her Tuesday night.
And Palin more than held her own in her sole debate with Sen. Joe Biden, a seasoned veteran.
In the end, voter fears over her relative inexperience may have cost the GOP ticket substantial votes.
But as Palin herself noted yesterday, “I don’t think anybody should give Sarah Palin that much credit . . . that my presence on the ticket would trump the economic crisis that America found itself in and attribute John McCain‘s loss to me.”
Still, she added, “If I cost John McCain even one vote, I am sorry about that, because John McCain is, I believe, the American hero.”
What happens next for Sarah Palin remains to be seen. But she did what was asked of her in 2008 and owes no one any apologies.