Identity politics
The recent vice-presidential picks for Barack Obama and John McCain have caused a whirlwind of speculation and commentary from TV pundits.
Often the VP picks are cast as a political dance to sway coveted independent voters: those still on the fence about their vote.
But too often these pleas for votes degenerate into identity politics of the worst sort.
But too often these pleas for votes degenerate into identity politics of the worst sort.
Both picks - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. for Obama and Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, for McCain - complement well each candidate's résumé: The venerable Biden lends foreign policy experience to Obama, and the young Palin provides a fresh spin on McCain's relatively dull campaign.
Though both picks are a counterweight to their rivals' personas, voters should keep in mind the substantive differences between each campaign - even though the tickets now "look" more similar.
McCain's pick of Palin has been touted as an ideal way to win over disillusioned supports of Hillary Clinton. Palin is, after all, a woman who would be in the White House.
This switch is wildly inconsistent.
We hope any woman who seriously supported Clinton did so because she believed Clinton would best lead the country. Her political positions - from universal health care to abortion rights - were essential to any decent estimate of her potential as a leader.
Shifting support to Palin, who staunchly opposes abortion rights and nearly everything else in Clinton's platform, makes little sense, given the gulf between their views.
The only similarity between Palin and Clinton is that they are both women, and having a woman in the White House should matter far less than having someone with appropriate political views.
Palin and Clinton cannot both be best for women. They support drastically different legislation on issues that affect women.
Similarly, the addition of Biden to Obama's ticket need not persuade those who balk at Obama's foreign policy. Biden still supports substantially withdrawing US troops from Iraq. McCain and Palin do not.
The buzz surrounding the VPs only underscores the need for voters to not fall victim to campaigns' political ploys. Focusing largely on personality badly misses the point: We are electing leaders, not only spokesmen or spokeswomen.
Voters need to focus on the issues. The best indication of political judgment - the fruit of experience - is one's stances, both past and present.
The hype can too easily cloud voters' judgments about what matters most. They should find insulting that campaigns feel they could be swayed by such petty politics.
