Say what you will about John McCain, but at first glance he made an excellent choice in selecting newbie Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.  I watched her speech after McCain introduced her and she seemed very at ease.  She was articulate, confident, energetic, down to earth, and, of course, youthful.  She’s also very conservative, which makes this pick a big win for conservatives who were freaking out that McCain would choose his buddy Joe Lieberman as VP.  Plus, on the personal side leads a very active and diverse lifestyle.  Yeah, she’s inexperienced - with only 2 years as governor to her credit - but better to be inexperienced as a VP than as a presidential candidate, which is Obama’s main weakness. 

In short, McCain’s bold move is exactly what he needed to re-energize his campaign, and simultaneously steal the thunder from Obama after the DNC.  His move is also in stark contrast to Obama’s pick of Biden, which is more of an “old school”/insider pick (albeit better than selecting Hillary Clinton).  In defense of Obama, though, I don’t think he would have benefitted as much from picking an out-of-the-box VP candidate like Palin as McCain.  Both candidates, actually, have seemingly made VP choices that complement their own strengths and weaknesses.

There’s obviously a lot of talk now that Palin will siphon away former Hillary supporters who are not fans of Obama.  Given Palin’s very conservative views - including her devout religious views and anti-abortion stance - I doubt that most women who are Democrats will suddenly flock to the GOP come November.  However, she will at least cause them to think twice and not automatically unite with other Dems in supporting Obama, and she is sure to cause more than a few disgruntled Hillary supporters to vote for McCain.  This means that Obama really must turn it up a notch to woo back those supporters, or else this election might be closer than anyone could have imagined a few months ago.  At worst, it might even mean another four years for the GOP.

Obama made the right move by not picking Hillary Clinton to be his running mate.  Although he surely disappointed Hillary supporters by not choosing her, not to mention spurring the GOP to criticize his failure to do so, Hillary is still way too polarizing of a figure.  Choosing her as his VP would not have unified the Democrats, nor would it have guaranteed anything in November.  As the VP candidate, Hillary would have drawn more attention to herself than to supporting Obama.  While the GOP wants you to believe that Obama made a mistake by failing to select her as VP, if Obama chose her the GOP would have been much more vicious in their attacks – as they have always been when it comes to the Clintons – than they will be in attacking Joe Biden.  It is also more than plausible to assume that Hillary would have still suffered from sour grapes that she herself was not nominated as the Democratic candidate, thereby hindering her ability to effectively campaign as Obama’s #2.

More importantly, Obama’s non-selection of Hillary as VP is a symbolic turning of the page.  Obama’s entire campaign is based on change (ironically similar to Bill Clinton’s first campaign in 1992, as President Clinton himself acknowledged during last night’s speech at the DNC).  Choosing Hillary as VP would have cut against that premise, and it would have arguably been “more of the same,” to paraphrase Joe Biden (although he was talking about Sen. McCain at the time).  This country has grown tired of both the Clinton and Bush dynasties, and desperately needs to move on.  Obama’s choice of Biden as VP preserves his ability to continue championing that need for change. 

Michael Phelps made history by winning his 8th gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.   In doing so, Phelps broke the previous record of 7 golds in one Olympics by Mark Spitz, which was achieved during the 1972 games at Munich.  Phelps has been mostly dominant and occasionally thrilling during these games, and by passing Spitz, Phelps arguably becomes the greatest Olympian ever as he not only has won the most gold medals in a single Olympiad but he also owns the most golds as an Olympian with 14 (and possibly more should he compete in London in 2012). 

That being said, the US Olympic Committee erred by not inviting Spitz to Beijing to personally witness Phelps break his record.  Mark Spitz held that record for 36 years over 9 Olympiads, and until Michael Phelps came along it was widely assumed that no one would break that record.  Spitz’ achievement was even more special in light of the fact that the Munich games were forever tarnished by the kidnapping and eventual murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists.  As a Jewish athlete, his performance stood in stark contrast to that atrocity and served as a beacon of hope for generations to come. 

Last week, according to several news reports, Spitz was upset that he was not invited to Beijing.  He later clarified during an interview with NBC that he could not go anyway due to a prior commitment to a corporate sponsor.  Although this is clearly Phelps’ moment to cherish, it is reasonable for Spitz to feel a little hurt that he was not invited.  Even if it is true that his corporate sponsor prevented him from attending, an earnest attempt by the sponsor should have been made to free him from his commitment for the time being so that he could attend.  NBC helped smooth things over by having Spitz congratulate Phelps over the airwaves, but it would have been more respectful to Spitz if he was able to do it in person, serving as the finishing touch to Phelps’ amazing and historic achievement.

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My next show will be at The Bitter End, located at 147 Bleecker St. between Thompson and LaGuardia.  I will be playing an acoustic set on Tuesday, Sept. 23 starting at 7:30pm.  Cover is $7. 

Here’s a link to The Bitter End’s website - http://www.bitterend.com/

Hope you can make it!