Nigeria Village Square

October 2: Sarah Palin’s D-day

Posted by Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo on September 27, 2008   |

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For Sarah Palin, October 2 is her D-day - debate and decision day.

If she survives the Vice Presidential debate with Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden, she may be on her way to becoming the first female vice president of the United States .

But if she fails, she may be on her way back to Alaska even before her name is printed on the voting slip.

It has come to that.

The hoopla over her surprise pick for the Republican vice president has died down. In the few interviews she has granted the media, she ended up scaring not just her opponents but respectable Republicans.

In her first interview with Charles Gibson, Gibson was blamed for her failures to answer his questions like someone who might be president on January 21^st 2009.

In her interview with friendly commentator, Sean Hannity of Fox News 'Hannity & Colmes,”  Palin did not do any better in spite of being in a friendly territory.

Then she was interviewed by Katie Couric - a woman news anchor who was not espousing sexism. There her performance was a disaster.

Writing in the conservative Townhall.com, Kathleen Parker essentially asked Palin to return to Alaska and take care of her family.

Even women on the street are now screaming that Sarah Palin does not represent them. “We are much smarter than that,” a woman said.

It wasn’t just the radical right that are pissed off, even responsible conservative like George Will are raising doubts about McCain’s readiness to be president.

In his column in Washington Post, conservative columnist George Will wrote, “It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency.”

McCain’s certainty on the choice of Sarah Palin for vice president has not helped.

Maybe at the end, we will all see what Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy saw at the very beginning when Sarah Palin was named McCain’s choice for vice president. These two Republican operatives called it “gimmickry” and “political bullshit.’ In fact, they concluded that “it is all over” for John McCain.

… or maybe, just maybe, these early signs were all ploys to lower expectations so much that come October 2, Sarah Palin will perform so brilliantly that John McCain will step down for her.

You never can tell.

What we all can agree on is that from now until October 2, Sarah Palin has a lot of reading and cramming to do. And based on what we saw at the first presidential debate, the stakes are too high.

You bet, I will be watching.