If Charlie Gibson asked me if I were prepared to be the President of the United States .... and if I had the experience, both life and professional, of Sarah Palin, I would not answer the way she did on ABC News this past week. I would not say without a blink, Yes I am, Charlie.
A little humility and acknowledgment of my impending learning curve might be in order. But what we learned is that this person who has governed an area the size of Hoboken, New Jersey accepted the nomination call from McCain without even blinking. Does Palin have any idea at all of what she is being asked to do? The responsibilities of a Vice President demand a complex understanding of the world that goes beyond noting that you can see Russia from the Alaska border, that Ukraine should join NATO (Ukrainians are wildly split on that issue), that we are all Georgians, that terrorists are bad guys or that the U.S. are the good guys. Being Vice President means more than remembering good talking points. Hell, being President should be more than that as well.
Listen up, folks. YOU could be President under these conditions. You, with your family and life experience, even if you have barely ever left the country, could have your finger on the red button. Be a heartbeat away from the Presidency as they say. Now I don't know about you, but I just don't feel I'm prepared to be either the Vice President or the President. And the fact that i KNOW I am not prepared is a good thing. It shows I have some awareness of the awesome responsibility of these positions. That I have some judgment..
Bob Herbert of the New York Times notes that Palin is not ready. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorializes that Palin is not ready. Even two of Alaska's top newspapers question her fitness for office.
What to make of this confidence? Or over-confidence? McCain and Palin are either clueless or think we are. Whatever you think about McCain, it is no secret that he will be the oldest candidate for President. McCain could have chosen someone with the requisite experience. But in making the judgment he did, seemingly on the spur of the moment on the rebound, must be compared to the careful and considered decision-making process that Obama went through. Obama chose one of the most experienced candidates he could find, knowing that he would be criticized for it, but also knowing that the Vice President is no longer just a ceremonial ribbon cutter but a partner with the President in the govenring process.
There is a lot of talk about how people choose someone for President or VP that they would like to be friends with, to have a beer with. If that is so, then choose another George Bush. He might not drink liquor with you, but he is more like you than Gore or Kerry would have been. But if you acknowledge that we need a President AND a Vice President who are more ready, more experienced, have better than judgment than we do -- then you will vote for Obama-Biden.
Anyway, Palin is running for VP, not president, and has far more executive experience than Obama, who has none, and has deemed himself fit to be president (Is this a sign of hubris?) Not to worry, though, we haven't had a president die in office (of natural causes) since 1945 (a little history lesson...it was FDR) so in all likelihood McCain will survive his term.
The significance of a governor's responsibilities is not measured by the square footage of the territory that she or he has control of, but by the population (of people, not moose). And I think that someone even as clueless as you could figure out, from the article, that this is what the author was talking about.
And the statistical probability of a President dying in office is not determined by how many people have in the past, or in the past since 1945. I'm sorry, but you just can't pull a random date out of the atmosphere and imagine that this will serve as a legitimate statistic. That's not how it works. Nor is isolating the reason for death to "natural causes" a legitimate move, since a hypothetical McCain could die for other reasons as well. The probability of his death, as any actuary will tell you, has much more to do with his age and health status.
If any of this is still unclear to you, I suggest a high-school level stats class.
Over here, we were all brought up on a diet of Westerns. We call them 'Cowboy Films'. My dad lapped them up - nice simplistic plot-lines where the good guys always win the day. The 'Bad Guy' shoots up the town, thumbs his nose at the law and generally upsets the law-abiding citizenry. The 'Good Guy' has a mission. He is clean living, possibly a loving partner/father, knows right from wrong and hates injustice in any form. He faces down the 'Bad Guy', offers him a fair fight out on the street - meeting him eye to eye at a dozen paces and he NEVER BLINKS.
America isn't the Wild West anymore. You're THE Superpower - for ill or good. The rest of us only want to know we can sleep safely in our beds at night without the prospect of another round of tit-for-tat with the Russians.
Let me draw a final analogy... America (along with the UN) is at war with North Korea in the fifties. The President asks his advisors what to do next. General MacArthur steps up and in a firm voice declares that America should 'nuke 'em'. Wiser heads prevailed but can you imagine replaying that scenario with Ms. Palin in the hot seat?
Can you AFFORD to?
He's never actually worked in a bi-partisan way. She has.
He's never actually brought a huge project to fruition such as the gas pipeline renogiation. She has.
He's never truly challenged the old-boy system in his own party and won. She has.
It's starting to make my skin crawl everytime I see an article such as this. My own reaction is opposite of what is hoped for. I'm becoming convinced that there is a darn good reason the Democratic congress has failed the people. It's because of this type of small, petty thinking.
Disagree with Pal on the Republican platform? That makes sense. She is most definitely a Republican.
But this other stuff?
It's offensive.
He has worked in a bipartisan way in both the Illinois State House and the Senate. Sarah Palin hasn't; in fact, the investigation into her abuse of office was a bipartisan initiative--with 2/3rds of the votes coming from Republicans.
We apparently use the term "fruition" differently. If I were referring to a gas pipeline project using "fruition", it would mean the pipeline was built. Apparently, signing an approval to begin looking into the possibility of securing the necessary licenses to build a pipeline at some point in the undetermined future--if at all--counts as "fruition" for you.
As for challenging the old-boy party and winning, that remains to be seen. She has both sides of the aisle in the state legislature gunning for her doesn't sound like victory is in her future.
One significant difference between Obama and Palin has to do with knowledge: He has it, she doesn't. He is a thinker who has contemplated the great challenges of our time, she isn't and hasn't. One of the things I find most offensive is the fairy tale being built around Sarah Palin, and the number of people like yourself who insist on telling and retelling it with complete disregard for the truth.
I'm not ready to be President, however I'm ready to help the Obama-Democratic Campaign in such a way that it would put Sara Palins story out of Business now, and on the back-burner in the long-run; when it comes too Stories told & yet to be told in Life.
Life is like Chess, sometimes one piece needs too be moved first, before another piece/s can & should be played-moved.
"Of course, Charlie. I DID sleep at the DC Holiday Inn Express last night."
You said it right there...she was a rebound...and we all know how rebounds USUALLY work out...except in basketball usually not a good thing.
Great article...and NO i'm NOT ready to be president.
" What a splendid system, we say to ourselves, that takes little-known men, tests them in high office and permits them to grow into statesmen.... Why shouldn’t a little-known woman have the same opportunity to grow?... [T]he indispensable credential for a Woman Who is the same as for a Man Who – one who helps the ticket.”
I rarely agree with the Times or Bill Clinton, but I do see their points here and think they're relevant.
One thing is obvious here, this pick was made to help the ticket, but for the sole purpose of winning, not governing, thereby belittling the office of the Presidency and insulting the voters' intelligence.
He sure had a good nose to smell who could boost his points, even 3 times at some places or groups (evangelicals for example) !
Far better than Obama's nose, of course ! (Had Obama picked Hillary as VP he would not be so confused now about McCain's VP? But maybe Obama feels smudgier to work 4 years with a same-sex than with another -sex ? As I think he is a rather shy person).
About experience, McCain who had spoken (in Ads) sharply about Obama's experiences, surely know about Palin's inexperience, but so as you say, he only THINKS about becoming Mr President, so everything else DOES NOT MATTER MUCH ...
om santi, Indonesia
Even if we had 8 more years of a Republican white house, the odds are very, very slim that it would be overturned.
Stop trying to make it look as if Palin would force her beleifs on the American people. Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2 were all against abortion. Together, this is 20 years of Republican Presidents. If Roe V Wade hasn't been overturned by now it never will.
Local politics in a town of 5,500 when she was Mayor is not in the same ballpark as Yankee Stadium. However, the local hockey rink is.
She is in the water so over her head, she would get an embolism trying to reach the surface quickly enough, or drown trying.
On July 31, 2008 she was quoted as saying, "Could someone tell me what are the responsibilities of the VP?" When I interview for a position, I have the intellectual curiousity to research it thoroughly. If experience doesn't matter to your potential employer (G.O.P) then I guess it doesn't require any research on the applicant's part.
Amazing.
It truly is a new LOW in politics when George Bush looks like a ROCKET SCIENTIST next to Sarah Palin.
Further, unlike Sarah Palin -- and, in the past, John McCain -- Senators Obama and Biden are not under INVESTIGATION. Mr. Obama accomplished this last feat while Sarah Palin was apparently carrying our vendettas and fusing family interests w/the State business -- and her husband was attending State meetings and communicating on behalf of the same, w/out accountability to ANYONE.
Waiting for an answer....
Humility? Clearly the American people love their hubris, or at least enough of them to make this scary! Good job nailing this one!
GP
We've seen folks with what on the surface appear to be mighty impressive resumes turn in what might be charitably described as unsatisfactory performance. Two recent examples are the current VP of the United States and a former Secretary of Defense. And we've seen a VP with scant experience except local politics in the Midwest rise to the occasion - Truman.
So, assuming reasonable intelligence in a candidate, the question is what is the critical difference between success and failure? My answer is ideology.
Now, if you think the critical issues facing our country are flag burning, the unthinkable spectre of gays having abortions or getting divorces, etc then one candidate for VP stands out head and shoulders above the rest. And I might add over both presidential candidates.
If on the other hand you think the economy and our national security are the critical issues, then that candidate is not.
(In a democracy the voters get exactly the government they deserve).
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/lifetimes/index.html
Also recommend the excellent biography by David McCullough!