The Vice Presidential Debate

McCain is going to go down a couple more points in next week's polls following Sarah Palin's disastrous performance in the one and only vp debate in this election. This was a major miss of opportunity to sell the Republican platform and to firmly establish Palin's executive credentials to the millions of independents who still do not know her.

The mainstream media has shown an unfair and unprecedented interest in Palin with smear after smear coming out of newsrooms and editiorial desks - from supposed illicit love affairs, to rape-kit profiteering - but all that was unnecessary for Sarah Palin herself effectively demonstrated tonight why she isn't ready yet to be vice president. In a dramatic turnaround from her electrifying convention speech, which in itself was a dramatic turnaround for the lifeless McCain campaign, tonight's performance is a step back to zero for McCain and then 5 more steps back after that. Palin was not only dwarfed by Biden's mastery of policy details and ability to lock the focus on to the issues where team Obama already enjoys an advantage in voter confidence, Palin failed to intelligently explain McCain's economic and military strategies, let alone defend them. She came off as warm, friendly, reachable, and even intelligent but also most often unserious and offkey from the current gloom and doom on the proverbial Main Street. She simply missed the target and gave control of the narrative to Biden.

Palin is such an endearing figure, certainly with such great potential and gift to connect with the middle class. She may even deliver badly needed government reforms - but very little of that showed tonight just when team McCain is in dire need of a break from its freefall from all major polls.

At the Republican convention, Palin was an exciting alternative voice for women and filled a deep and unheard longing for classical feminism, but it looks like that longing will have to grow deeper and will have to remain unheard for now.

Palin has been unfairly treated by the media, but even a fair and balanced army of journalists could not save her from her inadequacy tonight. She simply is not ready or else she simply is the least effective in communicating her readiness. In time, she may grow into the oversized expectations of an entire generation of conservative women, but that time looks to be in the future than now.