My first reaction to John McCain's vice presidential pick was: slam dunk.
Why? Because I've been saying for weeks that both candidates have to win over white suburban women -- and not only the women who are Hillary Clinton supporters. Sarah Palin is the kind of woman other women can like -- especially married, socially conservative women with children. Obama doesn't appeal to these women. Nor does his wife Michelle. She's too poised while Palin is pretty and approachable. I don't actually think Hillary appealed to these women either. So McCain, I thought, had seen the need to reach out these women... But as the news sinks in of Palin's overnight rise to vice presidential nominee, I find myself insulted. Insulted and disrespected and angry. I think every woman in America should feel the same way.
McCain's decision reminds me of marketers who think if they put a woman in their ads, paint their products a pretty color, and tell us they were thinking of us, that we will buy whatever they are selling. Many marketers have grown up since then. John McCain, the marketer and politician, still has a lot to learn. Women aren't a single, homogeneous market who will be wowed by the simple choice of a woman being on the ticket. But McCain seems to think that choosing a woman, any woman, is enough. He doesn't realize that choosing this woman -- so inexperienced that it's frightening to think of her as the person a heartbeat away from the presidency -- could be and should be viewed as condescending and patronizing. I hope he learns the same lesson as those marketers who wonder why we don't buy their products. It's because their ads don't work. We don't like the colors they pick. We won't stand for being patted on the head and told, "See, I was thinking of you." I would have applauded McCain for picking a woman -- but out of all the women in the Republican Party -- this was his best choice? I think all women should be asking themselves just what was McCain thinking, but most of all, Republican women should be asking this: Is this the best you could do, Mr. McCain?
