"It's a trap!" - Adm. Akbar, Return of the Jedi

I couldn't help thinking of the good admiral's ominous realization when reading Kirsten Powers' New York Post column this morning on the Palin pick:

I can't help wondering if this is a trap. The McCain camp watched and learned as Obama supporters offended Hillary supporters by their treatment of her. The McCainiacs had to know that this group is incapable of behaving, that Palin would bring out their worst instincts....

The other potential trap is luring the Obama campaign onto the "experience" field. The early conventional wisdom says McCain's pick was boneheaded because it takes the experience issue off the table. But it seems that it has done the opposite: The importance of experience is the topic of the day.

The more Democrats complain about this, the more Republicans can turn it on them and say, "If you are so concerned about the amount of experience of the vice president, what about the top of your ticket?"

Other than the announcement itself, the most interesting thing to happen yesterday was the Obama campaign's confusion over its response to Sarah Palin. It was almost as if, having taken the bait, they suddenly realized what they had done. Almost as exciting as how Palin performs on the stump will be watching how the Obama campaign reacts. A few mistakes on her part would make the Obama campaign's job easier of course.

On the other hand, David Frum, writing in the National Post, seems to suggest that the "trap" line might be too clever by half:

But the selection of Sarah Palin invites the question: How serious can [McCain] be if he would place such a neophyte second in line to the presidency? Barack Obama at least balanced his inexperience with Mr. Biden's experience. What is Mr. McCain doing?

Vice-presidents have historically made surprisingly little difference to the outcome of presidential elections. The elder Bush picked Dan Quayle in 1988 in hopes of wooing younger voters, much as Walter Mondale had chosen Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, in an effort to mobilize women, and George McGovern had hoped that Sargent Shriver would stanch his losses among Catholics in 1972.

None of these gambits worked.