I watched Charlie Gibson’s interviews of Sarah Palin and still cannot quite grasp the reality that this person is auditioning to be the backup commander-in-chief and a key policy administrator of the most powerful nation in the world. Not that she did a bad job in the interview. She did as well as anybody possibly could in her situation. That situation being:
- Her foreign policy experience consists of being able to look across the Bering Straits and see Russian land (on a very clear day).
- Her governing experience consists of being mayor of small town of less than 10,000 people and two years governing a state with a total population smaller than that of Austin, TX.
- Three months ago she had no reason to educate herself on the fine points of running one of the most complex nations on earth, one that almost entirely exists on other side of Canada from her point of view.
She said in the interview that she didn’t blink when asked to run and did not for a second consider saying no. You really have to ask yourself why she didn’t blink. I damn sure would have seriously blinked. More than anything, that answer scares me about Sarah Palin. When asked if she was ready to be president, she did not hesitate to say yes. I know she had no choice but to say that or she’d have been ripped to shreds. But I would have been much more comfortable with a little hesitation, something that would have assured me that she does not truly think she could simply settle into the Oval Office and start issuing commands. She gives the impression of somebody who has no idea how tough or complex that job is.
I know some of the same things can be said of Obama, I have said them. But at least he has had the better part of four years in the national spotlight (starting with the 2004 Democratic National Convention). We know a lot more about him and he has had at least two of those years to study for the job. Sarah Palin was thrust into this position (albeit not at the top of the ticket) with virtually no preparation at all. Any sane person with any perspective would have had to blink and question their credentials. Palin is simply not going to admit that she did so in a public setting. But she’d actually be more credible if she did.
