Swinging out of the gates

The nation learned in the past eight years just how valuable a vice president can be to a White House. That's why I struggle with the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the presumptive Republican nominee for vice president.

Let's get this out of the way right now: it's not because she's a woman or anything like that. I've already been called a sexist for this and this has nothing to do with her gender; it has to do with her qualifications. Also, this has nothing to do with her daughter being pregnant. I am of the mind that we elect the candidates, not their families and they should be kept out of the race. It's not fair to the kids to be dragged into this. I wish nothing but the best for Palin's daughter and her child.

As to the issues:

Palin has been governor of Alaska for nearly two years, and before that she was mayor of a town of 6,500 people. A person that is a heart beat away from the presidency (and that is a legitimate concern given that McCain would be the oldest president elected to office if he wins in November) should be better versed in politics and administrative procedure than that.

The Republican counter is, "Well, she has more administrative experience than Obama." Well, if that's true, she also has more administrative experience than McCain. Shouldn't she then be put on top of the ticket?

She also has knocked the VP position before, and so has McCain. It was only eight years ago when McCain said the VP's only job is to "check on the health of the president and attend the funerals of third-party dictators." Palin has said a month ago that she didn't even know what a VP did, and she felt that she is used to a productive day as Alaskan governor and wouldn't want to give that up for a fruitless position.

My biggest gripe really comes from the fact that I honestly believe McCain chose Palin for two simple reasons: 1.) to court the woman's vote by nominating a woman to VP; 2.) to cover his ass by selecting a heavily conservative choice. His two main choices from newspaper reports were Joe Lieberman, who is best known for being McCain's shadow the past few months and Al Gore's former VP candidate in 2000, and former Dept. of Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge. When the party angrily shot back at McCain with emphatic no's, he swung back to Palin because they wanted him to make a dramatic stand.

McCain is forced into the lowest form of pandering by nominating Palin as VP. She is an intelligent woman who has done a lot for Alaska in her two years as governor, but is she ready to possibly lead this nation Heaven forbid if something happened to McCain? I have a hard time believing that. That's why I'm not sold on this pick.