Since last week when Sarah Palin was announced as the Republican Party's Vice Presidential candidate, a thick fog has descended upon all of us. This disorientating and distracting haze has had us all discussing Palin's family, her daughter's pregnancy, her credentials and the various scandals she may and may not be involved in.
Whether or not the Republicans intended it, our focus on Palin has momentarily made everyone forget what really matters. Until now that is. Thankfully, a week on, we've started to come to our senses, have stopped drinking the Kool Aid and have realized that Sarah Palin does not matter. She is not running for president: John McCain is - and it's him that the American voters, the Democrats, and the media need to turn their attention back to. Now.
As Arianna Huffington wrote in her piece "Sarah Palin: A Trojan Moose Concealing Four More Years of George Bush" "...Palin, and the circus she's brought to town, are simply a bountiful collection of small lies deliberately designed to distract the country from one big truth: the havoc that George Bush and the Republican Party have wrought, and that John McCain is committed to continuing." Indeed.
Obama's camp hasn't said much about Sarah Palin - and rightly so. What's most important now is that they continue to tell us who McCain really is, what the real issues are and what a McCain presidency will mean for America. Between now and November 4th, that message must come through loud and clear. The arrival of Sarah Palin are nothing more than smoke and mirrors, and the sooner we realize that she doesn't really matter the better.