PALIN HAS THE RIGHT KIND OF EXPERIENCE

PALIN HAS THE RIGHT KIND OF EXPERIENCE
By Bob Ward
Some people are simply impervious to irony. Among them are those supporters of presidential candidate Barack Obama who claim –– with a straight face –– that Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, lacks the requisite experience to hold an office that could propel her into the White House should 72-year-old John McCain become incapacitated.

In fact, Palin is better equipped to step into the Oval Office than either of Obama or his running mate Joe biden. Unlike Obama and Biden, who are both U.S. senators, Palin has never held a Federal office. But she is the governor of Alaska and has been the mayor of a small city. Both of these are executive positions – as is the presidency. That’s why it’s called the Executive Branch.

Executive experience is more relevant to the office of president than Federal experience in some other capacity. Neither Obama nor Biden can claim a single day of executive experience.

Should she ascend to the presidency she will join a long list of presidents who went from the state house to the White House (or the vice-presidency) including Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. These two presidents pursued widely divergent political philosophies but there was no question they were both effective. In addition there were both Roosevelts (any Democrat want to tell us what a colossal failure FDR was?) –– Woodrow Wilson, and Herbert Hoover. Not to mention –– but we will –– Jimmy Carter.

Aside from her alleged lack of experience, her opponents have resorted mainly to personal attacks, that barely rise to the level of tabloid style gossip. Typical was the claim that her youngest child is really the child of her oldest daughter. Her daughter’s pregnancy has been used against her as though teenage pregnancy were something rare in America and indicative of Sarah’s inability to serve as president.

Blogging on the Huffington Post, Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, warns us that, "Sarah believes in God." New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd referred to Palin as McCain’s “trophy vice.” Ensler needs to be reminded that most U.S. presidents believed in God. As for Dowd, someone needs to feed her a saucer of milk.

The reality is that Palin has retrieved the base for McCain and put him ahead in the polls for the first time. Her selection is helping a lot of Republicans overlook McCain’s stance on several issues such as immigration, his support for cap-and-trade legislation to combat “global warming,” his disregard for the First Amendment in pushing campaign finance legislation, his vote against the Bush tax cuts.

Sarah Palin is the last best hope of avoiding an Obama presidency.