One of the delicious results of McCain’s Palin pick is that it exposes Obama as just another politician, willing to get down and dirty with the rest of them. No more Obama the transcendent, Obama the supra-partisan, Obama the inventor of a new politics. Of course, nothing wrong with being another politician; that’s what politicians are. But Obama had staked his future on his elevation above politics. With Palin threatening his lead, he no longer has that luxury.