moderates McCain was thought to favor. Instead McCain
chose forty-four-year-old Sarah Palin, the young governor of
Alaska little known outside of party circles. A former small-
town mayor, beauty queen, and self-styled “hockey mom” of
five, including an infant with Down Syndrome, Palin intro-
duced herself to the nation in a mesmerizing speech that drew
as many television viewers as Obama’s convention address. In
that speech, Palin—the first woman on the Republican ticket
and thus a maker of history in her own right—made a bid for
Hillary Clinton’s many women supporters with a promise to
assail the glass ceiling Clinton had cracked. As an opponent of
abortion even in cases of rape and incest who believes creation-
ism should be taught in the schools alongside evolution, Palin
appealed strongly to evangelical Christians who helped elect
President Bush and had little enthusiasm for McCain.
Initially the media fell hard for Palin, much as it had for
Obama. Both were hailed as celebrities and rock stars, terms
the Republicans had previously used to demean Obama. Palin
proved to be a gifted campaigner with a sharp edge and a pop-
ulist pitch (she often mentioned “Joe Six-Pack,” apparently to
capitalize on the belief that Bush had won, in part, because
voters would rather have had a beer with him than with Al
Gore or John Kerry). Palin had a folksy touch, smiling readily,
winking, and dropping her final g’s, but she also served as her
party’s attack dog. Without apparent qualms, she often roiled
up conservative crowds by accusing Obama of “palling around
with terrorists.” Despite her initial appeal, she had a serious
downside. With her paper-thin resume, she undermined Mc-
Cain’s contention that Obama lacked the experience to be
president. In my view, that had been a losing argument all
along. History has shown over and over again that experience
On Becoming a Leader