McCain-Palin: The Courage to Reform

As an Alaskan working in DC, the past 36 hours have been spent fielding phone calls and emails. After witnessing an historic selection for VPOTUS, and after John McCain's awesome performance at the Saddleback Church Forum, I can't be more pumped about this ticket. I'm excited not just because I'm an Alaskan; I'm proud that John McCain has sent a clear message to Washington that politics as usual will not be on the agenda.

Back on February 13 in Texas, Hillary Clinton gave some of the best lines of her campaign against Barack Obama:

“Change is going to happen whether we want it or not. Change is a part of life. The question is, who can master and direct change so that it actually results in progress for America?”

“I am in the solutions business. My opponent is in the promises business. I think we need answers, not questions about what we’re going to do.”

Bottom line up front: John McCain and Sarah Palin have a record of reform that they plan on continuing within their administration. They don't just promise "change" when "change" is popular. The McCain-Palin ticket will have the courage to promote progress, even when it's unpopular. That needs to be the message from this campaign for the next two months.

By now, everybody knows the heroism, independent streak and principled leadership that John McCain provides. As an Alaskan, a Republican, and someone who is deeply interested in the progress and evolution of the next conservative movement, I want to spend less time on the narrative of Sarah Palin and talk more about why the McCain-Palin ticket can wisely guide us into the second decade of the 21st century.

Palin first got elected to two terms in the Wasilla city council starting in 1992, and defeated an incumbent mayor in 1996. She kept her campaign promises by lowering her own salary and lowering property taxes by 40%, eventually leading to a second term in 1999. Palin jumped onto the statewide scene by running for Lieutenant Governor in 2002, against three other high profile candidates, all of whom were state legislators. She received second place and was only 2 percentage points behind the winner despite being heavily outspent. In 2006, she decided to run for Governor on an agenda of ethics, energy, and fiscal reform, soundly defeating incumbent Governor, and former U.S. Senator, Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and former Democrat Governor and U.S. Senate candidate, Tony Knowles, in the general election. Once again, she kept her campaign promises, pushing through landmark ethics legislation, oil tax reform, a gas pipeline construction license, and a $1200 energy rebate to each Alaska from a large state buget surplus. She used her veto pen to slash government spending, and has used her position to tout energy independence and fight extremist environmentalists: promoting responsible resource development in ANWR and filing a lawsuit against the listing of polar bears as an endangered species.

So, why Sarah Palin? Now, I have to admit that I don't agree with absolutely everything that Palin has done in Alaska. But neither have we agreed with everything that John McCain has done over his long career. The fact is that Sarah Palin provides short term benefits over the next 60 days, and long term benefits after November, whether or not the McCain-Palin ticket gets elected.

Sarah Palin can connect to the opportunites and challenges of Main Street America. One of the best lines I heard through the Republican primary was from Mike Huckabee: "I don't want to be a president that represents Wall Street or K Street. I want to be a president that represents Main Street." Throughout the convention and the rest of the campaign, you'll hear a lot about the Main Street narrative of Sarah Palin: child of elementary school educators, commercial fisherman, union household, etc. Not only can Palin's ability to tell her Main Street story shore up the vote in the rural and suburban Midwest. Palin can talk with strength and expertise on energy issues, and start to merge the energy and economic messages that will be critical to winning independents in Western states like Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico.

The liberal blogosphere and the MSM have been ready and willing to attack Palin for her lack of foreign policy experience. But the fact is that Sarah Palin has more executive experience being a mayor and governor than Obama and Biden combined. And it doesn't matter how large or small your executive "kingdom" is. Executive experience means making decisions every day that are critical to the long term prosperity of your constituents. Sarah Palin should add the following to her stump speech:

"I don't need 36 years in the Senate to know that the surge worked in Iraq, that Russian aggression against our Eastern European allies must be confronted, that terrorism must be defeated and not just confronted, that trade must be free and fair, and that we must promote prosperity and peace not only within our borders but outside our borders as well. I don't need 36 years in the Senate to handle foreign policy; I only need the courage to take on whatever comes our way. John McCain and I have a record of courage."

[By the way, I've never been a real fan of the "experience" arguments and rhetoric between Hillary Clinton and Obama, and now McCain and Obama. No one is ever "ready on day one" to be POTUS. Each term, each moment in history, offers different opportunities and challenges. I don't necessarily want to see experience; I want to see the right vision. McCain and Palin are visionaries that took on the establishment, while Obama is just another politician that likes to use Chicago "Daley-style" tactics.]

Furthermore, while it is historic to see Palin on the ticket, she should not be remembered as the first female GOP VPOTUS nominee, or hopefully the first female VPOTUS (although the campaign should use it to appeal to female voters, like in the ad below).

John McCain and Sarah Palin should be remembered, win or lose, as sharing the quality of courage. Voters should not be fooled by "change we can believe in" just because change from George W. Bush is popular. It's the courage to change and reform, during the best and worst of times, that matters. While I still question whether or not John Mccain and Sarah Palin will help the GOP down-ticket, McCain's selection of Palin gives some promise to what Mitt Romney said in an ad about this time last year: "It's time for Republicans to start acting like Republicans again." A party not based on the hope of equality of condition, but based on equal opportunity. A party not based on "change", but based on progress and reform. A party not based on government as the solution by overspending, but, as John McCain said yesterday, a party that will have government stand by your side, not get in your way.

Sarah Palin can help John McCain bring out the best in Republicans. Sarah Palin, her story and her agenda can help merge the netroots and the grassroots of the conservative movement.

What's clear is the Barack Obama chose Biden from a position of weakness; John McCain chose Palin from a position of strength.

I'm flying to Minneapolis tomorrow. See you there!