In chess, you know you're dealing with an amateur when a player opens up his beginning game by streaking the queen across the board. Although it may daunt another amateur player, more experienced players see it as an opportunity to gain the immediate upper hand, as an out of position, unprotected piece can easily be exploited in a variety of maneuvers. It also leaves the aggressor's king exposed, and the subsequent back-pedaling will end up costing many moves. The board can be set for a check mate relatively quickly if one responds properly.

The political game is much like chess. Aggressive gambits always seem to fail one way or another. John McCain's amateurish choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate is one such move. It might seem a bit daunting to Democrats worried about the white female vote, but ultimately this assertive maneuver backfires for several reasons.

First, it's a pathetically transparent pander to Hillary Clinton's supporters. But the only thing Palin has in common with Hillary is her gender. Palin is pro-life; Clinton is pro-choice and seen as a champion for women's issues. Clinton supports universal health care, and has put her career on the line for this issue. Palin has fought only for corporate interest on the issue. Clinton has over 30 years of public service. Palin has been governor of Alaska for just 2 years. Prior to that, her resume consists of being mayor of a town of only 8000 people and a sports broadcaster. Clinton had a plan to end our dependence on foreign oil and spark our economy through a major investment in alternative energies. Palin is pro-drilling in our national parks and is inextricably tied to oil giant BP through marriage. She has far more in common with Dick Cheney than Hillary Clinton. Clinton supporters will be turned off by this cheap attempt to capitalize on Hillary's lifetime of achievement. Clinton proved herself through her command of issues and personal resilience. It was her skill and intelligence that broke the glass ceiling. Palin was chosen primarily because she is female. That's going to be seen as an insult to everybody who worked so hard on the Clinton campaign. Furthermore, Hillary Clinton is a newly knighted supporter of Obama. Clinton, who some speculated might sit this one out, will undoubtedly come out and attack the credibility of Palin as VP.

The Republicans clearly want to test the resolve of the Democratic Party. But in doing so, they fail to address the problems of their own party, which is increasingly being seen as interested acquiring offices rather than running the country. Herein lies is the second problem with this choice. Palin is very hard to imagine as commander in chief, not because she is woman, but because she is so inexperienced. That's disconcerting because McCain would be the oldest President ever elected. If he cannot finish his term, we'd be relying on the young, inexperienced political pick of Palin as the leader of the free world. Isn't inexperience the raucous attack theme being leveled by Republicans against Obama? Obama actually has more experience than Palin, and he's backed up by Joe Biden, who has more experience than everybody. So take that line of attack off the board. The Obama-Biden ticket not only seems more energetic and up to the task of change, but also now appears as the more practiced and professional ticket as well. Both bring a host of skills and experience to the table. Palin brings the political appeal of her gender but very little else.

Granted, old man McCain didn't really have all that many great choices. Tom Ridge would have been the best pick, but because he is not hardcore Christian enough, he was slighted. Governor Charlie Crist of Florida was in the mix, but that choice would have turned off the homophobe vote. Mitt Romney seemed like the likely pick, but again, he lacked WWJD credentials for the job because he believes that the savior was a mere prophet. So the Christian right gets what it desires, a person who abhors women who have abortions as much as they do. The oil companies also get to sneak another Vice President into the White House as well. On top of that, she's young, pretty, and female. Clearly, McCain covered all the political bases. The problem is, the rest of the country is moving in a different direction. The petty political games and silly attack themes seem more appropriate for a class president election rather than the election of United States President. Republicans will somehow find a way to rally behind this pick, just as some of them have found a way to rally behind Bush. But on November 4th , check mate will finally come.