A friend told me a joke recently that went something like this: Iraq, Afghanistan, attacks from Pakistan, revisiting the cold war, economy on the brink of collapse. I said “I didn’t get it” and he said I hadn’t even heard the punch line yet. Then he said, “Sarah Palin.”
The joke almost had me in tears. Not that it’s funny, because it’s not. It’s completely and totally ridiculous. Her becoming vice president is a hideous thought because there’s a strong possibility that she would also become president. The average life expectancy of the American male is roughly 73 years, and John McCain is 72. That’s not cynicism, that’s realism. It’s a realistic possibility that we could wind up with another person who is totally overwhelmed and underqualified holding the most important office in the world.
I don’t care what party you support. Calling her qualified for the job is a stretch to any half-rational imagination. She attended five colleges before receiving a degree in journalism. She was mayor of a town with fewer than 8,000 people before becoming Governor of Alaska. That almost sounds like a fantastic qualification until you realize that there are about 680,000 people in Alaska. That’s about half the population of San Diego.
The fact that she supports teaching intelligent design in public schools should be the one big disqualifier for the job. But as silly as that is, that’s not even close to being the end of the ludicrously thin resume. Before having a polite meet and greet with Hamid Karzai a couple of weeks ago, her foreign policy experience has been limited to being able to see Russia from land in Alaska. But I have to admit it’s difficult to have foreign policy experience when she just got a passport last year.
McCain should be completely and totally ashamed of himself for his VP pick. It’s an obvious political ploy that goes against his whole mantra of “Country First.” Before he chose Palin, I at least had a small understanding of why someone would vote for McCain. He has the general perception of being this rustic maverick who’ll go against the grain. It’s a false perception, but I understand why people would be drawn to that. After he chose Palin, all of that goes out the window. Unless, of course, you compare him to the TV show Maverick, because choosing Palin does make him the gambler. I guess it’s a good thing he’s not gambling over anything important like the highest office in the land.
Personally, the biggest sting about Sarah Palin is all the people jumping the McCain bandwagon because of her. Our current president ran both of his campaigns on image not depth. Palin offers the same appeal to people who don’t pay attention to issues, but buy into that imagery of the relatable blue collar American. There should be no confusion about this person. She doesn’t have what it takes and it becomes incredibly apparent by watching any interview. McCain can scream “country first” all he wants, but it’s apparent that he has no idea what direction the country needs to go; because as a country we need another clueless politician like we need more war and recession.
