By now you’ve heard that John McCain has picked his vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin to run with him on the republican ticket in the general elections this November.  The timing of his announcement did precisely what it was supposed to do: get people talking about McCain, rather than Obama, on his nomination day no less!

Shortly after Obama delivered a grand slam speech in Denver Thursday night, McCain announced that he would reveal his pick for the Vice Presidential office the following day.  Specculation ran rampant throughout the night, but the secret remained secure until very near the end.  The result was that the media and pundits everywhere were giving appropriate homage to Obama’s speech, but were obviously eager to jump into McCain’s VP nominee.

So far Sarah Palin appears to be a very interesting choice for the VP pick.  The main problem, and indeed perhaps her biggest asset, is that she is virtually unknown to anybody on the national stage.  Much as Obama was when he first started his candidacy.

So who is this Sarah Palin?

Sarah Palin is a native of Idaho, a life long member of the NRA, she is a journalist by training, and is a graduate of the University of Idaho.  By way of political experience, she was the mayor of a small town in Alaska, and was elected the governor of Alaska two years ago in a land-slide humiliating the then seated governor.  Sarah Palin fits in with the image of an Alaskan, she loves to hunt, fish, snow mobile, and she even owns a float plane, a valuable form of transport in Alaska.

Politically she has been called a “maverick”, for fighting against corruption in her own party, while at the same time maintaining openly gay friendships.  She is a devout christian, and has an excellent family.  Her son is scheduled to serve in Iraq in September, and she just gave birth to her fifth child in April, which was diagnosed with downs syndrome.  For more in depth information about Sara Palin, visit Blog Critics Magazine.

What does this all mean for John McCain?  While John battles a mild form of skin cancer, this increases the legitimate argument that the VP must be able to assume the presidency.  Sarah Palin has little political experience, but ironically, she has more executive experience than John McCain, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden combined. I would love to see that in an ad somewhere.

Though with McCain selecting Palin to be his running mate, he has effectively stripped himself of the ace of spades: experience.  McCain has repeatedly attacked Obama on his lack of experience in all matters.  With Palin’s paltry two years experience, it makes it much easier for the Obama campaign to counter this with the same argument.  Will this cost McCain?  Time will tell for sure, it would seem the experience argument wasn’t a very effective one against Obama’s “change” anyhow, and it seems McCain’s advisers understand this.

Instead, McCain has chosen somebody that the American people can become enamored with.  Sarah Palin is attractive, intelligent, dignified, and elegant.  She has been hailed as a walking photo-op, and she is the kind of person that people are naturally drawn to.  She holds a commanding yet approachable and friendly poise that is inherently matriarchal in its emanation.  She is the kind of woman that working class blue collar man can get behind, unlike Hillary Clinton, who seemed entirely elitist and out of touch for many men.  Sarah Palin could do much simply for the image of the United States abroad.  She is the epitomy of an all-american girl, right down to her marriage of her high school sweetheart.

Sarah Palin is an inspiration for all of us, whether you agree with her policies or not.  Her success in her family, her fight against corruption, and her acceptance of gays and lesbians with an open christian heart and mind.  She represents what we all desire to be, successful and happy in all aspects of our lives.  She ballances her life remarkably well, and as such we could all learn something about that from her.

Will she swing former Hillary supporters?  Some, mainly those who are more concerned about getting any woman in the whitehouse, no matter their policies.  But she isn’t a woman of the same flavor.

If there is anything that will be used against Sarah Palin, it will likely be in connection to her husband, who works for BR an oil company on the Northshore.  If she can be linked to big oil interests, then Obama’s slogan of “Change We Can Believe In” will likely resonate even louder with the american people.