Palin's Problem: She's Too Much Like McCain

Sarah Palin’s inexperience and family turmoil don't concern David Brooks of the New York Times. She's a “marvelous person” who “seems to get up in the morning to root out corruption,” much like—maybe too much like—John McCain. "My worry about Palin is that she shares McCain’s primary weakness," Brooks writes, "that she has a tendency to substitute a moral philosophy for a political philosophy."

McCain has shown he can be a savvy aisle-crossing policy force, but he also has “a restless, thrill-seeking personality.” For many of the issues of today, like health care or energy, he’ll need a clear-cut vision about what government should and shouldn’t do. Palin, for all her charms, doesn’t have one. “The real second fiddle job,” Brooks concludes, “is still unfilled.”