Sept. 9, 2008
I do not get involved in national politics. My plan is to write in Ron Paul. He was my boss in 1976, when I served as his research assistant. I am not going to abandon ship just because he did not get the nomination.
But Sarah Palin fascinates me.
First, she is the very first Good Old Girl in American national political history.
Texas Governor Ann Richards was a regional Good Old Girl, and made it onto the national stage with her classic keynote address at the Democrats' national convention in 1988. Michael Dukakis is long forgotten. Her speech lives on. Richards was the real thing: a gun-lover and an AA member. She took no prisoners, rhetorically speaking.
Neither does Sarah Palin. She seems to be able to walk the line between hard-nosed campaigner and mother of five. In one week, she has changed the face of American politics. No Vice Presidential candidate ever went from obscurity to fame this fast. In American history, there has been nothing like this since William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech at the end of the Democrats' national convention in 1896.
Second, if she wins, she will have an opportunity to position herself politically as no other woman ever has, and as no other Vice President ever has.
For what it's worth, here is what I would advise her to do in year one.
She should do what no Vice President has ever done, day in and day out, as far as I have ever read -- certainly no Vice President in living memory. She should do the one job that the United States Constitution specifies for a Vice President.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. -- Article I, Section 3
The job would be immensely boring for most people. It would involve listening silently to every Senator, day after day, intervening only to enforce Robert's Rules of Order (the most influential self-published book in American history).
Why should she do this?
First, this will give her legitimate access to every Senator. She will be in the room with them daily as the presiding officer of the Senate. She will learn who knows what, who says what, and who works behind the scenes. She will be an ex officio colleague.
If she runs the debates with a rod of iron, according to the book and without favoritism, she will gain respect from Senators. This is the fastest way for her to become an information insider without becoming a political insider. No other political job in Washington allows this. She will be where the action is, yet remain above the fray. No other political job in Washington allows this.
In short, she can re-make the office of Vice President -- re-make it by returning it to the Constitution. She can define it. She can become the lady with the gavel. In cases when the Senate imposes time limits on speeches, she can say: "Your time is up, Senator." "I mean it, Senator. It really is up." She will be able to do what no other politician on earth can do: get Joe Biden to sit down and shut up.
Second, she will not be seen as McCain's Vice President. She will be seen as her own Vice President.
Third, she will be able to avoid the ribbon-cutting ceremonies that traditionally fall to the Vice President -- the useless appearances that a President's staff relegates to the hapless VP.
Fourth, she will be able to keep her mouth shut on partisan issues. She can say -- honestly -- that her job is to preside over the Senate, and to do that effectively, she must maintain a reputation for honest, fair dealing with her gavel except in a tie vote.
Fifth, she will be seen as a person who takes her job seriously -- the first VP in memory to do so.
Sixth, she can go home at night, knowing that she did her job.
Seventh, she will be able to tell the President no -- politely but emphatically -- when he tries to send her out to shore up the evangelical Protestant base behind some piece of legislation that evangelicals should tell their representatives to oppose.
For the first year, she should stick to her Constitutional knitting. Then, in year two, she can make a decision to put down her gavel and establish her own sphere of influence. She may find that she should not put it down. Her sphere of influence will expand because she is seen as a Vice President with a specific task: presiding over the ultimate Old Boy Network in the United States. She will be "Madam President" to 100 Senators.
She could produce a weekly Friday evening 3-minute TV/radio show that could be made available to local stations. She could post it on YouTube. It would be a report on the Senate's biggest event of the week. Again, she should do a nonpartisan show. Yes, it would be inherently boring most of the time, but it would position her as the person moderating the Senate.
Her skill at humor might liven it up -- not comedy: humor. Will Rogers stuff: gentle but on target. "Good Old Girl from Alaska comes to Washington & reports to the folks back home on things that most people would regard as simply beyond belief." This would also keep her in front of the true believers. She would not have to tell her viewers to send letters of protest against a bill. She would not have to.
It is easier to take the perks of the job: the meaningless vetted speeches, the huge staff, the adulation that adds up to nothing.
If she wins, she will be in a strong position to become President some day. The best way to do this is to avoid politically meaningless controversy now, gain a reputation in Washington for being a competent person who sticks to her Constitutional knitting, and to solidify personal contacts with 100 Senators. She will then know how to deal with them if she ever becomes President.
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