Soccer Dad

Star power

Last week John Podhoretz cautioned:

It's worth noting that Obama's address was seen by 38 million people last night, making it he most watched political speech not given by a president . Now, if two-thirds of those people go out to the polls with enthusiasm in November and do what enthusiasts do -- which is to try and convey their enthusiasm to others -- Obama will be in very good shape.

This week he seems somewhat relieved:

Well, it has gotten worse for them. The effort to turn her nomination into a scandal, so relished by the scandalmongers, raised the curiosity of the American people to an unprecedented level. The results are astonishing. It appears 37.2 million people tuned in to watch Palin's speech last night, only a million shy of Barack Obama's total last week -- making it the second most-watched convention address in history. (And given the fact that it was covered live on six networks, while Obama was live on ten networks, suggests her audience might have been larger still under entirely equal circumstances).

Jennifer Rubin notes that Palin may actually have outdrawn Sen. Obama.

(h/t memeorandum)

Charles Krauthammer, a Palin skeptic, would think this is a good thing.

McCain has one hope. It is suggested by the strength of Palin's performance Wednesday night. In a year of compounding ironies, the McCain candidacy could be saved, and the Palin choice vindicated, by one thing: Palin pulls an Obama.

Obama showed that star power can trump the gravest of biographical liabilities. The sheer elegance, intelligence and power of his public presence have muted the uneasy feeling about his unreadiness. Palin does not reach Obama's mesmeric level. Her appeal is far more earthy, workmanlike and direct. Yet she managed to banish a week's worth of unfriendly media scrutiny and self-inflicted personal liabilities with a single triumphant speech.

Still I think that Krauthammer is missing the main thrust of the McCain campaign. Yes, to some degree, McCain sacrificed the experience issue. (But he didn't cede it. Palin isn't running for President; Obama is.) But there's a bigger goal here and that's the change issue.

The McCain team has decided to show that Obama's promises of change or a new politics are empty. It wasn't just his star appeal, it was the promise of what he'd do with that star appeal. But there's nothing in his record to suggest that he will be bipartisan. He won't have to because if he's elected he'll likely have both houses of Congress from his own party. McCain might have to be bipartisan whether he wants to or not, but his political history says that he has always reached across the aisle. So if the change demanded by the country means more co-operation, John McCain is better suited to the role than is Barack Obama. Picking Palin was to emphasize that point. The star power is extra. (Though I suspect that McCain wasn't as surprised by it as many of us.)