How Did We Get Here?

Wow. Today, maybe longer, Sarah Palin is the most amazing woman in America.

Here from the Obama-supporting Mother Jones reporter David Corn:

Democrats beware—[Palin] demonstrated she's handy with a rhetorical stiletto and can slice Barack Obama and Joe Biden while flashing a stylish smile. . . Palin read her lines with flair and confidence. And—can we be frank?—she looked darn good doing so. She was with the program: this election is not as much about change, hope, or issues as it is about the measure of [Obama] . . . It's some ticket: a made-in-small-town- America working mom and the man who goes off to war to protect her way of life.

Obama-Biden are ahead, and the economy [entry above] helps them stay there, but Palin balances the excitement quotient that was all Democrats, all the time, for 19 months.

I see seven factors that transformed “excitement v. Bush” into a more balanced Obama("excitement")-Biden v. McCain-Palin ("excitement") contest.

1. Clinton miscalculated in January 2007, thinking that to become the first female president, she would have to be strong on defense. To avoid the John Kerry, primary-general, flip-flopper trap, Clinton refused to go for primary victories by apologizing for her Iraq war vote.

2. Obama, who would have made a great vice president on a Clinton ticket, realized he could energize the Democratic left and beat Clinton by making her Iraq vote his major issue.

3. The leading Republicans—Giuliani, McCain, Romney—all had problems with the party’s base, weakening the prospective GOP ticket. Clinton-Obama became the real presidential election fight.

4. But then, the successful Iraq surge transformed the Republican race, helping McCain, left for dead six months earlier, squeak through to a February victory. Even with his base problem, McCain had broader general election appeal.

5. And then, Democrats developed “buyers remorse” over Obama, prolonging the Democratic primaries and making it harder for Obama to accept Clinton as his vice president.

6. Obama failed to see how much Clinton’s being a female contributed to spring’s primary excitement, and declined to put a woman—Clinton or Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius—on his ticket, possibly because he feared Clinton, and feared picking Sebelius would offend Clinton.

7. McCain chose Palin, shoring up his base and grabbing his share of 2008’s election excitement.