Sarah Palin - A Poor Choice for Vice President

I could not disagree more with Jack McMullen’s thesis that McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin is a brilliant choice. Palin has extreme pro-life views, she has no familarity with issues at the federal level and she has no foreign policy background or experience. McCain’s selection of Palin makes me question his judgment, particularly when he had two excellent alternatives.

Credit Where Credit is Due

Let’s give credit where credit is due. Palin is an exceptionally intelligent and talented individual and an honest person, a person of integrity. She witnessed first-hand corruption in her own party. Rather than ignoring it, she quit and turned the crooks in, leading to massive political change in Alaska. She has done an excellent job as governor. She also has a great heart, is a loving, willing and understanding mother and is dedicated to her family and country … but let’s face it America …

She is Not Ready

McCain’s best argument to vote for him rather than Obama is that McCain is highly experienced and is ready to be President, while Obama is not. Like Palin, Obama is an exceptionally talented and intelligent individual who simply is not ready. With the proper seasoning and experience, he could be ready in ten years, maybe even five, but he is not ready now. That alone is a compelling reason not to vote for Obama.

By selecting Palin as his running mate, McCain undercuts the strongest reason to vote for him. Although Palin has executive experience and Obama does not (McCain and Biden also do not have executive experience, by the way), overall Obama is more qualified to be President than Palin is to be Vice President.  Four years as a U.S. Senator provides more exposure to the issues a President faces than two years governing a small state (in terms of population). Also, Obama has been a professor at the University of Chicago’s law school and law is intertwined into our political system.

Palin’s experience with the PTA, in a town where the entire population will soon reach that of an average high school class population, is not suitable training to Vice President. By choosing someone with so little experience, McCain has thrown away the best argument to vote for him, but there are other reasons …

Pro-Life Extremist

Jack mentions Palin’s pro-life views almost as an after-thought. “Pro life” is one way to describe these views, but perhaps a more accurate term would be “anti-choice.” Palin believes the government should prevent women from having an abortion.

This is not a black or white, either/or issue. There is a continium, as Roe v. Wade contemplates, based on the term of the pregnancy, from immediately after conception to days before full birth. Another contininium is that of the reason behind the pregnancy. At one end is a completely elective decision: “I simply want an abortion.” At the other end of the spectrum, the woman never wanted to be pregnant and never intended to be pregnant, but circumstances such as rape or incest have changed that. Very few Americans are at the ends of these two spectrums, most fall somewhere in between.

I am surprised the media has not focused more on the fact that Palin believes abortion should be illegal even in the case of rape and incest. Palin not only believes the U.S. Supreme Court should not have granted women a legal right to have an abortion, but believes that such right should not be granted even through the political process. This is an extreme view; one shared by a small minority of Americans.

Military and Foreign Policy

Palin is simply inexperienced in military and foreign policy:

1. She obtained her first passport in 2006.
2. She has visited four countries during her lifetime, each time a short trip. She has never lived abroad.
3. She speaks no foreign languages.
4. All reports indicate that as govenor of Alaska, Palin has had essentially no exposure to any foreign diplomats or business executives in terms of oil trading or any other kind of trade.
5. I simply do not understand that because Alaska is close to Russia, that means Palin has had foreign policy experience. I grew up in Los Angeles, which is closer to Mexico than Alaska is to Russia. Does my living in LA for 20 years mean I have 20 years of foreign policy experience?
6. Even assuming that Palin has had exposure to Canadians, come on, are Canadians really much different than Americans?
7. She has had no exposure to any foreign policy experts and is not a member of any foreign policy groups (e.g. Council on Foreign Relations).
8. Palin’s lack of exposure in international relations stands in sharp contrast to her VP opponent — Joseph Biden is Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and personally knows dozens of heads of state. No matter how good of a debater Palin is, Biden will slaughter Palin in the debates on foreign policy issues.

Mother of Five Children

The media consensus is that it is “sexist” to ask any questions about family obligations to someone seeking high office. “No one is asking if Joseph Biden will stay home and take care of his kids.” Like most media consensuses, this is malarky; the issue is much more complex than that. Let’s assume I am a single parent and I have adopted 100 children, many of whom have special needs, and I am running for President. Would it not be reasonable to ask me, “How can you take care of 100 children and also be President of the United States?”

The fact of the matter is that in most families, women are the primary care givers of children. Palin has three younger children, the youngest with special needs. (She is not, however, a single parent.) Are all questions on this issue totally off limits?

Many voters have been commenting that her choice, as a mother of five, to run for the Vice Presidency negates the idea of traditional family values that her party values so dearly.

Perhaps I would agree with the argument, “Let her run her family in the manner which she chooses; she’s doing just fine,” but then I would also have to overlook the fact that her teenage daughter is pregnant. Do we really want the mothers and daughters of this nation to look up to these role models — ones displaying that it is okay to be pregnant at an early age and that it is okay to simply “accept” that your teenage child is pregnant?

I think women are capable of taking on the same roles as men, but it is clear that something is being neglected in the Palin home — or perhaps they just focus on why abortion is wrong and birth control is not discussed. As we have learned from the disasterous Bush administration sex education policies, teaching abstinence only is a sure-fire guarantee of increasing teenage pregancies.

McCain Had Two Excellent Candidates

McCain’s selection is even more disturbing because he has so many good people to choose from.

Mitt Romney would be an excellent choice. I did not want him to be President, but as a Vice President, he could serve our country brilliantly. He is exceptionally intelligent — honors graduate of Harvard Business School, considered by many to have been the smartest consultant at Bain & Company. He started and ran one of the most successful private equity firms in the country, working as a venture capitalist and an LBO practioner. Subseqently, he was asked by his former partners at Bain to become CEO in order to save Bain from bankruptcy, which he did. Later on, he the took over the Salt Lake City Olympics and did a masterful job. Romney understands economics and business, areas that even McCain agrees are not his strong suit. He knows how to get things done. He would be an excellent Vice President.

Joseph Lieberman would also be an excellent choice. He is a well respected Senator who displayed independence from his party (Democratic) in supporting the second Iraq war. When he was defeated in the Democratic primary, he ran as an independent and was re-elected. Supposedly, the primary reason McCain did not choose him is because he is pro-choice. McCain’s pandering to the far right is frankly disturbing.

McCain’s selection of Palin makes me question McCain’s judgment. Although I do not think Obama is ready to be President, his choice of a running mate was thoughtful and wise; Biden is simply a good choice.