Sarah Palin is great. She’s a mom, she’s accomplished, she’s folksy, she and her husband only make $150,000 a year. Palin is real and her family is real. I’m sure she even knows how much a gallon of milk costs.
However, I’m a teensy-bit nervous that Palin’s expertise and knowledge falls short of the skill set needed to navigate the next four years.
I desperately want to throw my weight behind Palin. She’s is the kind of politician I’ve wanted to see go to Washington since Mr. Smith made his big splash. The problem — there’s more at stake in this election than the neat and tidy ending of a feel-good Jimmy Stewart movie.
Where are we going in the aftermath of 9-11, the side-tracked war on terror, and the crushing heartbreak following our love affair with sub-prime mortgages? Tough questions with no easy answers and as we’ve seen over the past few weeks, answers are not Palin’s forte.
I forgave Palin when she didn’t know what Charles Gibson meant by the Bush Doctrine. Honestly, can a doctrine be defined when the guy is still in office?
I was slightly annoyed by her repeated claims that she said no to the bridge-to-nowhere, when it was clear she was wishy-washy on the issue. A fact that’s easy to dismiss as political rhetoric sprinkled with a little bit of spin.
I laughed light-heartedly when her daughter spit shined Trig’s cowlick.
But increasingly I’m suffering from a bit of buyers remorse. The more she talks, the less I see her as a viable VP. My stomach gets turned into a pretzel thinking about the White House should something happen to McCain.
Holding my breath during the debate, I was glad she didn’t fall on her face. Yet, there was nothing that impressed me, no spark of confidence ignited the flame I felt in the days following her nomination. Her performance left me stewing over a few details.
Her diplomatic credentials. Proximity to Russia isn’t foreign policy experience. I lived in Russia and I would never pretend to understand the intricate cultural and historical forces driving their resurgence. McCain got it right, Putin=KGB and there’s nothing about Palin’s twinkling eyes and a bright smile that will convince him to stop flexing his Soviet-era muscles. And this is only one of many entangling situations we are likely to face on the world stage.
Knowledge of McCain. Katie Couric pressed Palin for specific examples of McCain acting as a maverick and Palin couldn’t. This is her own candidate, she should be ready with a hundred examples. What else is Palin in the dark about?
Does she read? This is the one that trouble me most. I’ve been the busy mom who doesn’t have time for the front page of the paper, but during that time period I felt completely disconnected from my brain and any intellectual thought. You can’t read every publication — you have a few regulars and then a host of other you peruse. And you should be able to name them on the spot –unless of course you’re embarrassed because the last thing you read was the Scholastic book order form.
Palin is bright and obviously capable and ambitious, and under different circumstances, she’s the kind of women I’m dying to vote for. But I don’t think she was ready to come off the shelf of local politics and onto the national stage.
Which leaves me wondering — is Palin available on layaway?
America is ready for a female president but Palin isn’t ready. Maybe in several years – but not in 2008.
Even though I didn’t agree with many of her policies, it’s too bad we ditched the woman that was ready and got a trophy candidate instead.
I agree. I was excited when I first heard of her, but everything I’ve heard since has deadened that excitement and turned it into something else. I cannot forgive her for not reading. That’s not VP material and I feel ashamed to have the one woman on the national stage be that troublingly ignorant. A journalism major, no less!
Exactly, newfeminist! When I listen to her I think — those are the kind of answers I would give. A little knowledge about a lot of things, but not enough to qualify for VP because VP has to be ready in case the boss gets called home.
The problem with Biden is that he is running with Obama.
At least Palin has aligned herself with the correct Presidential nominee and that in and of itself speaks volumes!
Cherie – I’m glad you’re back. I love your insights.
I agree, Palin sticks to her guns (no pun intended) on her values and that is awesome.
Thank you for your very thoughtful and honest feedback on my blog, and for sharing your concerns about this campaign. While I am left of the middle in terms of politics, I *don’t* assume that conservative=bad. When McCain first announced his running mate selection, I thought, “Ok, I remember she’s the first female governor of Alaska. Don’t know anything else about her… What’s that you say? Hockey mom/PTA mom turned reform-minded politician? Okay, sounds interesting. I can go for that.” I thought that we should all give her a fair shot, whether we’re progressives, moderates, or conservatives.
But as I read more about her, and as I’ve listened to her talk, I am increasingly disturbed that her greatest assets seem to be her pretty smile and her folksy charm. She is a lovely woman, but that’s not a qualification for VP, or (knock on wood) President. I couldn’t believe that she was unable to name one single news publication, which showed us just how sheltered she is, to say the least. I’m a progressive; I don’t call myself a liberal, but my views are very left of moderate. Still, I had admired John McCain for years. I always called him a man of integrity, who stood by his principles and values, regardless of party lines. But he’s changed over the last four or five years. I’m also seriously concerned about his health. Actuarially-speaking, based on his age alone, he has a 1 in 4 chance of not making it through a second term–and that’s not even considering his health.
Until McCain selected Palin, I didn’t care all that much if McCain OR Obama won, but now, personally, I am terrified of a Palin Presidency. I don’t think she’ll be able to do the job, and I’m afraid that she could be used as a puppet by who-knows-what corporate/political entity to do their bidding.
exactly my predicament.