Sarahly?

I'm used to the idea that folks of different political persuasions live in different worlds. But some of the reaction to the Sarah Palin pick makes me wonder if we don't need so stronger metaphysical metaphor. The announcement was only yesterday, and it remains to be seen just how many disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters Sarah Palin will draw. But it's a bit of a mystery that the number is larger than zero.

I voted for Barack Obama in the primary, but not with any great conviction that he was clearly superior to Hillary Clinton. I believed then what I believe now: both were strong, impressive candidates. I certainly wasn't voting against Senator Clinton; it was a matter of a tentative calculation that overall, Barack Obama was more electable. That calculation had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton's gender. It had much more to do with the baggage that both Clintons carry and the visceral negative reactions the Clinton name provokes in many people. Perhaps those calculations were wrong; they were, as I said, tentative.

But if the reports are to be believed, it seems that there are Clinton supporters who are now ready to vote for a McCain-Palin ticket. This puzzles me. Let's concede that Sarah Palin is smart and talented. So are lots of politicians who wouldn't be on anyone's short list for vice-president. Hillary Clinton, however, is in a whole different class.

If that's not clear, imagine that the Republicans had nominated Sarah Palin for president and the Democrats had nominated Hillary Clinton. What Clinton supporters could possibly have any reason to dither about who deserved their vote?

The answer, of course, is: only the ones who never supported what Hillary stood for in the first place. Far as I know, there aren't any major policy issues that Clinton and Palin agree about. Why would a Clinton supporter who cares about what happens after the election have any doubts at all?

A few days ago, I heard a disappointed Clinton supporter marvel that after Senator Clinton had conceded, John McCain met with a group of Clinton voters and asked for their support. She was bitter that the DNC hadn't done anything comparable. I'm not sure what she thinks the DNC ought to have done, but I'm even less sure what's supposed to be uplifting in the picture of John McCain playing carpetbagger. Did this woman really think that McCain was trying to be gracious?

Here's a thought I find hard to resist: McCain is desperate (the horse race polls look very different than the electoral college calculations) and trying to court Clinton supporters was a big part of his reason for picking Palin. But Clinton partisans who actually cared about her qualifications and her views ought to be insulted -- mad as hell, in fact -- by the message that a vote for Sarah Palin is a good substitute for a vote for Hillary Clinton. At least, that's how it seems to me, and after all, it was Obama who actually got my vote.