A guest post by our regular commenter dr ngo.
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JUST A HUNCH
by Dr Ngo
I have been unwell recently (nothing serious, just debilitating and distracting), and have not followed recent political events nearly as assiduously as many others have. But between sleeping and waking and dozing and dreaming, an insight struck me, inspired by the comments of that consummate political hack David Brooks.
He suggested – or so I recollect, and that is all that matters here – that McCain’s selection of Palin reflected a mutuality of spirit and temperament, with each of them inhabiting an essentially moral [sic] universe, and to the devil with the details. This, he thought, was Just The Thing when it came to foreign policy, and the evil that is Putin (or Islamofascism, or any other Evil Du Jour). OTOH, it might be a handicap when it came to the plodding competence required to piece together a health plan or economic policy, where the Democrats might have the upper hand. On balance, he was concerned about the balance of the ticket.
Many observers, not least on ObWi, have remarked that McCain is a gambler, a “hunch player,” and that the naming of the unvetted Palin is just the latest and most conspicuous example of this flaw. It bespeaks (we say) a lack of judgment, the very quality McCain is supposed to exhibit supremely over the untested Obama.
But in the context of American politics, I fear, this analysis is wrong.