As a counterpoint to Christopher Buckley's Obama endorsement, the Daily Beast is running a McCain endorsement by a former Obama (and Edwards) speechwriter named Wendy Button. It's a very strange article, with all sorts of strange reasoning for the flip, to wit:
Really, front-page news is how the Republican National Committee paid for Governor Sarah Palin’s wardrobe? Where’s the op-ed about how Obama tucks in his shirt when he plays basketball or how Senator Biden buttons the top button on his golf shirt?
But Button, of course, is entitled to her reasons. There's one bit, though, that strikes me as just wrong. Button writes:
Before I cast my vote, I will correct my party affiliation and change it to No Party or Independent. Then, in the spirit of election 2008, I’ll get a manicure, pedicure, and my hair done. Might as well look pretty when I am unemployed in a city swimming with “D’s.”
Are you kidding? Yes, before her Daily Beast article, Button may well have faced unemployment after the election, if only because the Democratic speechwriters who worked on winning campaigns are the ones who are going to get first crack at jobs. But after her Daily Beast article, I'd say that Button's actually enhanced her employment chances. She'll become a hero to conservatives (I found her article via an admiring Mark Steyn post on The Corner) and will be able to find plenty of work in what's sure to be a burgeoning anti-Obama-commentary industry. Hell, if she's savvy enough, she might even be able to carve out a Dick Morris-like niche for herself in the punditocracy, becoming the go-to Obama-employee-turned-critic.
In other words, I don't doubt Button's sincerity in endorsing McCain. But it's not exactly a bad career move, either.
--Jason Zengerle