Parrying Palin

by Josh Gerstein
Thu, 4 Sep 2008 at 3:56 PM

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The morning after Governor Palin's stiletto-sharp speech last night to the Republican National Convention Democrats are struggling to find ways to parry her attacks and her folksy persona without getting trapped in the minefield of gender.

The challenge is particularly acute for Senator Obama's campaign, which is still treading very carefully on gender-related issues due to the perception of many of Senator Clinton's voters that she was the victim of sexism during the primary race. That reticence may explain why most of the immediate response from the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee to Mrs. Palin's speech was formulaic, echoing the refrain that she was only offering "more of the same" like Senator McCain.

For now, Mr. Obama's official spokesmen are being cautious, while some surrogates, particularly female ones, are returning fire with more gusto. Asked today whether Ms. Palin's being a woman complicated the Obama camp's ability to respond, strategist David Axelrod didn't answer directly , but he seemed to go out of his way to be courteous. "We respect her. She's a skilled politician, as she proved last night. She's deft at going on the attack," he said, according to audio posted on the Web by Time Magazine. "Certainly, on blatant distortions of fact, we're more than happy to respond to her or anyone."

Governor Sebelius of Kansas and Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida, speaking on a conference call organized by the Democratic National Committee, went further, portraying Mrs. Palin as a political novice being carefully choreographed by Republican Party leaders.
"She mastered the words written by the Bush speechwriters and delivered them well," Ms. Sebelius said. "Women were proud of the fact that she delivered her lines very well….No doubt about that."

After Mrs. Palin proudly touted her small-town roots last night, some Democrats seemed to be shying away today from previous lines of attack questioning the value of her service as a small-town mayor and her 20 months in the Alaska governor's office.
However, Ms. Wasserman-Schultz, who represents the Fort Lauderdale area, pounded away.
"We're talking about someone who's the governor of a state smaller than my Congressional district," Ms. Wasserman-Schultz said. "That makes her qualified to have her hand on the tiller of American foreign policy? To suggest that is frightening, really. What if something happens to John McCain? What relevant experience does Sarah Palin have to sit across conference table in negotiations with presidents and prime ministers of this world? As the McCain campaign reminds us, this is a dangerous world….It's astonishing." .

Mr. Axelrod did take a slight poke at Mrs. Palin's experience when he said she was uninformed about Mr. Obama's legislative achievements. "Maybe that's what she was told," the adviser said.

Related Topics: General Election

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