The most difficult part about listing off the things I dislike about the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate is a toss-up between where to begin and where to stop. Seriously, I’ve been struggling with it all day. I don’t like most of the things that everyone has already heard about, such as her inexperience in every political scenario that doesn’t solely involve Alaska. I don’t like her voice. I don’t like her view on religion and how she intends to apply it to American foreign policy if elected. I don’t like that she portrays herself as a typical American when her net worth exceeds $1 million. I don’t like that despite her wealth, she managed to get her political party to fund an extravagant and expensive shopping spree. I don’t like her insistence that Alaska’s proximity to Russia gives her meaningful foreign policy experience. I don’t like her views on abortion. I don’t like her insinuation that urban centers are breeding grounds for un-American sentiment, and that only people who live next door to livestock are ‘real’ Americans. I don’t trust her to make the right decision in the event of an ethical dilemma (think: ‘Troopergate’). I don’t like that when faced with the outcome of the initial Troopergate investigation, she lied about the findings. I don’t like her inability to speak in coherent sentences, as showcased during her interview on CBS with Katie Couric. I don’t like her ignorance of American politics as she displayed during her interview on ABC with Charlie Gibson. I don’t like the McCain-Palin campaign’s supposed belief that she is ready and able to serve as a competent President if McCain were to die on January 21st, 2008. As I said, choosing where to stop is tough…
I didn’t particularly like Bill Clinton, and I certainly don’t care for George W. Bush, but their existence doesn’t anger me. Clinton may have under-funded the military, and Bush may have made some decisions that turned out to be wrong in the long run. Despite that, I like to think that Bush made the best decision he could at the time, and I respect him for having the balls to make a tough call. Joe Biden has a tendency to say things he probably shouldn’t say in a political arena, but he’s got a ton of foreign policy experience that is an asset to this country regardless of his political leanings. I’m annoyed by John McCain’s constant ‘my friends’ and ‘Joe the Plumber’ statements, and I don’t buy his ‘I know how to do it’ claims regarding finding Osama bin Laden and fixing the economy, but I still respect the guy. I don’t like either major-party candidates’ plans for America, though I think Barack Obama’s vision is more realistic and will leave the country better off than McCain’s. It feels like Hillary Clinton is just a bit too eager to prove herself capable of being President, which is unsettling enough that I do not want to see her in office. Oddly, this is one of the things that worries me about the prospect of a McCain Presidency.
However, what bothers me most about Sarah Palin is her lack of redeeming qualities. All of the other politicians mentioned in this post, despite their drawbacks, have several good things going for them, especially Barack Obama. But what positives, politically-speaking, does Palin offer? What could she possibly bring to the White House that nobody else in this race can, besides a hyperactive uterus and critical-thinking skills on par with those of the average third-grader? Being attractive, being a good mother, being governor of a state that contains only 0.22% of the total American population and being devoutly religious are all completely irrelevant in the arena of global politics.
So why is the reality of this situation, that within the next few years we could be using the phrase, *gulp*, President Sarah Palin, outside the context of a joke, apparently not sinking in with a vast majority of American pollees? Is there something I’m missing about Palin’s appeal?
