Posted on 09/26/2008 3:24:39 AM PDT by acsuc99
WASHINGTON -- If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream -- away from Sarah Palin.
To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president -- and possibly president -- is to risk being labeled anti-woman.
Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.
Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick -- what a difference a financial crisis makes -- and a more complicated picture has emerged.
As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.
Yes, she recently met and turned several heads of state as the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York. She was gracious, charming and disarming. Men swooned. Pakistan's president wanted to hug her. (Perhaps Osama bin Laden is dying to meet her?)
And, yes, she has common sense, something we value. And she's had executive experience as a mayor and a governor, though of relatively small constituencies (about 6,000 and 680,000, respectively).
Finally, Palin's narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain's running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood -- a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.
Palin didn't make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.
It was fun while it lasted.
Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I've also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.
Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there's not much content there. Here's but one example of many from her interview with Hannity "Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we're talking about today. And that's something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this."
When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama's numbers, Palin blustered wordily: "I'm not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who's more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who's actually done it?"
If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.
If Palin were a man, we'd all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she's a woman -- and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket -- we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.
What to do?
McCain can't repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP's unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.
Only Palin can save McCain, her party and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.
Do it for your country.
I wish the same standards were applied to Obama and his fellow gaffe machine, Joe Biden. What exactly makes Palin out of her league?
Actually McCain has a law degree which is generally considered an advanced degree.
Palin is the best that America has to offer?
Parker's column focuses on social issues related to family, children and gender. Having grown up in Florida with four stepmothers and a variety of siblings -- half-, step- and whole -- Parker says, "I know of what I speak." She lives in Camden, South Carolina with her husband, son and a variety of pets.
Sounds like another case of vagina envy ala Peggy Noonan. She just can't stand the fact that this "rube" is actually the VP candidate.
Wow. Or rather, meow.
Remember last year Parker declared Hillary Clinton “well qualified” to be president. I’ve read whatever she’s written with a grain of salt since then.
I will comfortably assume by making this statement that you do not have an advnaced degree. Of course you are not running for President so that does not matter
An advanced degree in the form of a Masters degree is a much deeper look at a broad field - for instance business, finance, engineering, agriculture. The real focus comes with a PhD - which indeed is far more than a President needs.
However, the level of complexity of the problems currently faced are not to be made simpy via "gut feeling". It helps to understand that problems have many layers.
Education teaches you how to analyze problems. AAn advanced degree will help you focus on particular field, but it also helps with thinking in general.
Simply put, Palin does not strike me as a person who spends as much time thinking as I would want the POTUS to spend.
The degree thing is a proxy for that - the current POTUS doesn't appear to think enough either.
I don't believe that is correct. All the education bios I've seen for McCain only mention that his is a Naval Acad grad. They do not mention any masters or doctorate degrees. I'd be happy to be proven wrong so if you have a link that shows the law school he attended and year please post.
Are Obama and Biden the best America has to offer?
Hey Kathy, can I get you a saucer of Milk??
Pray for W, McCuda and Our Troops
LLS
I agree with you on this. I know a lot of really stupid PhDs. But, common sense and a little bit more what is needed when faced with an extremely complex financial problem. Or multi-layered and ancient foreign policy issues.
The POTUS should have both. Like Mitt.
Roughly half of Congress is made up of lawyers, each of which have an advanced degree. They are indeed wizards at solving problems.
I don't hold that against him as there is no correlation on leadership nor how people do in their careers based on rank in their class, 20 years after graduating.
As you wish... another Mittbot crawling out from his hole to pipe up at negative news. Probably to crawl back in your hole the next time a news cycle is favorable to Palin.
Your faith in advanced degrees is misplaced. Bush 43, Bush 41, and Clinton had advanced degrees. Ronald Reagan had just a bachelors degree from a small midwest college.
Romney would gave been an excellent selection. He was my number one pick, and Palin was my number two pick. But despite my liking of Mitt, I was thrilled when McCain picked Palin. She’s only been governor for two years, so it’s impossible to pick up the knowledge of international and national affairs in that short period of time. Especially since she hasn’t been campaigning for president, like Romney has, since she was elected. What makes her a great candidate is her instincts which are conservative. There’s no way she’d be a high tax-high spender on the economy. She’d keep the military strong. She’d keep her paws off the business of America.
Sorry, you are right. He doesn’t have a law degree.
Still, he is an expert on Foreign Policy.
I am not sure what Palin is an expert on. What she has really focused on to know the different layers of complexity.
As mentioned, I see an advanced degree as a proxy, not a must for the type of deep experience I want the POTUS to have. Palin doesn’t do it for me like Mitt did.
Mitt’s problem is he had the paper credentials, but not the principles to lead.
The Presidency is in the Executive Branch for a reason. Being President is an executive job. You are being paid to manage and make decisions. I have no idea what you mean by "thinking," in terms of the job, but the President and VP are surrounded by "thinkers" who provide them with expert advice and information, e.g., the intelligence community, cabinet officials, etc. The President must have the ability to make decisions based on the best possibile information available. And he/she must have leadership qualities.
Palin's record of executive experience and achievement, inside and outside of government, make her more qualified than Obama and Biden who have never supervised or managed anything larger than a senate staff. And even ahead of McCain's experience in the USN. The fact that Palin is a Washington outsider is a plus for me.
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