On How To Lose

clipped from beldar.blogs.com arguments about his experience versus Palin's only highlight the contrast between his limited time in government and the decades McCain has spent in Washington. I think that second paragraph is bang-on accurate, but underestimates the danger. It's not just that Obama himself can't be dragged into the debate. It's that anyone attacking Gov. Palin can't help but raise questions about Obama's experience, whether they want to or not. That's the strategic advantage that McCain seized: McCain is already bulletproof on the experience/achievements criterion, whereas all of the experience (at least as measured in calendar years) in the Democratic ticket is in the second slot. There's no way that anyone can talk about Gov. Palin's experience without the top slot of the Dems' ticket jumping into the conversation — and if Gov. Palin is perceived to even be close to a tie with Sen. Obama on experience, then Sen. Obama has lost the argument.