Sarah Palin

Supporters say McCain’s chances of winning this election by sticking to conventional wisdom are next to nil. At a time when the Republican party is hugely unpopular and a charismatic Obama has bestirred the nation, McCain had to do find a way to shake things up. Besides the value of surprise, Palin offered McCain a badly needed political bridge to the conservative base of the Republican party. Throughout his political career, the independent-minded McCain has had difficulty with conservatives. In his 2000 run against George W. Bush it was the Christian right that quickly derailed his candidacy.

By settling on a young conservative —- who is against high taxes, opposes gun control, and is anti-abortion— - McCain has certainly energised the Republican base. Palin, according to the calculations of the McCain campaign, should also help to end Obama’s current monopoly on the appealing slogan - bringing “change” to Washington. Obama’s running mate, Joseph Biden, serving his sixth term in the Senate, is very much the old face of Washington. While she might have a hard time debating Biden on foreign policy, Palin, as the next door working mother, McCain hopes, might sway socially conservative white working folk, the most sought after constituency in this election.

Barely two days after Palin was presented to the public, the news that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant opened a new line of attack against the Republican campaign. Obama, on his part, was quick to say that family matters should be off-limits during the campaign. Obama also pointed out that his own mother was only 18 when she gave birth to him.

Obama’s dignity is unlikely to rub off on the media, as it begins to invest big in the Palin story. In a country where there is no line between the personal and the political, Palin will have to survive some hostile scrutiny. The liberal partisans would not let go of the opportunity to debunk the Republican projection of Palin as an epitome of American ‘family values’.

Unlike in Europe and Asia, ‘family values’ remain an enduring locus of America’s...