Democrats: the new national security party

John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin was welcomed by parts of the Republican base suspicious of Maverick John's conservative credentials. Evangelicals. Social conservatives. Gun owners. Drill-here-nowers.

But neo-conservatives and the pragmatist foreign-policy types inherited from the Bush the Elder days have nothing they can say to convince anybody that they actually think Palin is ready to be a heartbeat away from the most powerful job on the planet.

McCain would be the oldest person elected to the presidency and has had health problems, and it is in no way unreasonable to speculate that Palin might have to become president.

Yet nothing in her background shows that she is prepared to stand up to the likes of Ahmadinejad and Chavez and Putin, or that she can run two wars, or that she understands a Great Power's conduct of foreign policy.

One-term governor of Alaska? Former mayor of Wasilla, whose signature accomplishment was, as the National Journal put it, to "help fuel the city's rapid growth by funding infrastructure improvements that attracted big-box stores"?

McCain practically gave away the issue of defense and national security, which, whether in reality or perception, is his greatest strength and the most serious obstacle Obama has to overcome.

Obama's choice of Biden was the best possible. Few know more about foreign policy, defense and national security. Biden shores up Obama's weakness.

Obama also seemed reassuring in his acceptance speech:

"We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans — have built, and we are here to restore that legacy."

That showed that Obama doesn't intend to let Republicans paint him as a wussy Dem, the classic attack that deservedly targeted Dukakis and Mondale, and that continued with the slimy swiftboating of war hero John Kerry in 2004.

It also showed that Obama understands the profound damage the unilateralist Bush foreign policy wreaked upon American interests in the world. But he failed to offer a hint of how he would fix it. With Obama's limited experience in geopolitics, you wish he had said more.

Still, it's a great opportunity for Democrats. Obama has Biden. Obama also has the ability to speak in a tone of voice that is powerful and convincing. When he said Democrats can protect this country no less than Republicans, it sounded like he believed it. But how to do it?

He must use that voice to outline a foreign policy that combines the smarts so sorely missing in the past eight years with a strength of purpose that reassures voters that Barack Obama is no Jimmy Carter.

That, plus an all-out attack on McCain's blunders and his choice of a running mate, might just make the Democratic ticket the safer choice on national security. Incredible as that sounds.

— This was syndicated columnist Roger Hernandez' last column. He died unexpectedly of complications following surgery last week. He was 53.