What do John McCain, Sarah Palin, and Karaoke Have in Common?

Last night, I went to a karaoke bar in west Los Angeles. It was a blast. Rank amateurs, clearly not ready for prime time, got up and sang before, after, and sometimes along with, professional quality singers. Old men, way past their prime but still talented, sang standards that dated back to not only before the audience was born, but before most of the audience members' parents were born. When the truly tuneless amateurs sang, many in the audience laughed, rolled their eyes, and groaned a bit, but in the end, they gave the singers a hearty round of applause for trying.

Afterward, it occurred to me that the goings-on in the karaoke bar were a good analogy to what had just happened in the Presidential election with John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin to be his Vice Presidential running mate. McCain, the old man who can still trot out the old standards, picked Palin, the unprepared amateur, to sing a duet with him, and to take over the lead vocals if he could not continue. I guess McCain thought that the women in the audience would appreciate a female face on stage.

The problem is that the Presidency isn't karaoke. The female audience members can't stand the kind of tunes that the amateur female singer chooses to sing, and many are quite insulted that the old singer would assume otherwise. More importantly, we wouldn't have the luxury of rolling our eyes, groaning and then politely applauding when this amateur stumbles. In this case, the amateur would be a 72 year-old heartbeat away from the Presidency. And that's no laughing matter.