Hurricane Palin to be more Devastating to McCain than Hurricane Gustav

Hurricane Palin is expected to be upgraded to Category 4 and become more devastating than Katrina for the buffeted city of New Orleans -- whose inhabitants should be thankfully evacuated by the time the storm hits. Like Katrina, which exposed the incompetence of FEMA and cast yet another shadow on the Bush Administration, Gustav too might have significant political implications though of a different kind. This time the impact would be the postponement of the Republican National Conference -- with all sorts of implications on catching media waves, coordinating logistics and putting up a good show, and thereby influencing the mind of the voter.

But whatever the implications or lack thereof of an RNC postponement, they are going to be nothing compared to the storm McCain has leashed on himself. One wrong decision can unravel a campaign, and by the looks of it, McCain has made this fatal blunder by picking Sarah PalinSarah Palin as his running mate. In one fell swoop he has lost his most serious opportunity and neutrailized his biggest strength.

The opportunity for McCain was to make inroads into the single biggest segment of disaffected Democrats i.e. Female supporters of Hillary, turned off by the long, gruelling Democratic primary, and unwilling to vote for Obama in the general election. McCain sought to woo this very group by nominating a female for the VP slot -- but in a Rovian (read Karl RoveKarl Rove) twist -- overlooking female Republican stalwarts like Elizabeth DoleElizabeth Dole and Kay Baily Hutchinson.

What was McCain thinking? Will Hillary supporters -- diehard pro-choicers all -- vote for pro-life Palin who even decries use of condoms by married couples? Seems McCain chose to overlook the Rovian failure of 2006, and in doing so gave up his single biggest opportunity of cutting into the Democrat vote bank -- or for that matter of solidifying the conservative/libertarian Republican vote bank by picking a running mate from the Right.

But where McCain fell on his own sword -- in true Samurai suicide style -- was in picking someone so un-initiated in national issues let alone international ones. The central tenet of McCain's argument against Obama was that he was a "Pop Star" lacking credibility -- particularly in international affairs. Now, McCain deigns to place a heartbeat away from the Presidency one of the most inexperienced of presumptive Vice Presidential nominees. While Obama plugged his weakness by choosing in Biden a candidate with foreign policy muscle.

Round to Obama? Nah. More like Game, Set, Match.