Skip to main content

Sarah Palin's Foreign Policy Experience?

Here's my first substantive post. I saw a piece in the paper today and just have to dissect this. The story is an AP story, no author attributed, it appeared in the 9-19-08 Morning Call, page A5. I don't want anyone saying I did not attribute this. :-)

Small headline in the paper -- "GOP Sen. Hagel says Palin isn't qualified." The article is quoting Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as saying Sarah Palin lacks foreign policy experience and it is a stretch to say she is qualified to be president. The article also says that Sen. McCain and other Republicans have defended Gov. Palin's qualifications and cite Alaska's proximity to Russia.

Now let's go through this story.

First, if lacking foreign policy experience renders one unqualified to be President then shouldn't Sen. Hagel also be saying that Sen. Barak Obama is not qualified to be president? After all Sen. Obama actually is running for President. Gov. Palin is just a Vice Presidential nominee.

Second, let's say the McCain/Palin ticket is elected and a tragedy happens which leads to Gov. Palin becoming president. Under our Constitution she can name a VP. Why wouldn't we suppose that she'd pick someone who can offset her weakness in foreign policy experience, the same way Sen. Barak Obama picked Sen. Joe Biden to overcome his lack of foreign policy experience?

Third, Sen. Hagel mentions the fact that Gov. Palin just got a passport as one of the reasons she lacks foreign policy experience. Does that mean then that since neither of the Democrat candidates has ever visited Alaska those candidates are unqualified to comment on drilling in Alaska? Which area do you feel is more important for a candidate to have experience right now -- energy policy or foreign policy?

Fourth, isn't it true that Sen. Obama was critical of the Iraq war before he ever went to Iraq? If we follow the logic of Sen. Hagel's comments, then Sen. Obama's comments on Iraq before he went there were without merit. It is interesting to note that Sen. Obama's comments on Iraq have become more moderate since he actually went there and met some of the troops and the US commanders.

Finally a comment about the remark that Sen. McCain and other Republicans cite Alaska's nearness to Russsia when defending Gov. Palin on this point. Are they really saying that? Oh puhhhleeeeaaaze! That is just ridiculous. Just admit that the Governor's experience on Foreign Policy is just a bit behind Sen. Obama's and move on to discussing the strengths she brings to the ticket and how those compliment Sen. McCain's strengths.

Governor Palin's strengths are on domestic issues and, the last I checked, the US economy is a more important issue right now than any foreign policy issue, and that will be true for at least the first year of any new administration.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Biden Administration blew it on Covid

 It's about a year now since Joe Biden was sworn in as President and we can see the Biden Administration has handled the Coronavirus situation horribly.  The Administration had a fantastic opportunity to declare victory early in 2021 and put this behind us.  But they chose not to do that.  The Biden Administration dropped the ball on pursuing the things America needs to put Covid in the rear view mirror while offering a message of fear and dictatorial mandates, and wedding themselves to a bureaucrat who declared that he is the science.  The result was more Covid 19 deaths in 2021 than in 2020, strong disagreement and a loss of public confidence in the measures promoted by the Biden Administration, none of which is good for America. But it didn't have to be this way.  The Biden Administration took office with three different vaccines available to issue to the public and almost 1 million people getting the jab every day.  Shortly after taking office, Congress passed a Covid relie
Post a Comment
Read more

Republicans shouldn't get cocky

Is there anyone who doesn't think the Republicans will retake control of both the U.S. House and Senate this year?  Probably not - and that's the problem.    All the polls we see are generic.  They are asking questions about how people feel about the parties.  The pollsters are asking would a generic Republican defeat a generic Democrat.  Other polls are gauging people's feelings toward President Biden.  Every indication is the Republicans will win big in both Houses of Congress.  What could go wrong? Elections are not generic.  Incumbents are not easy to unseat.  Furthermore, elections involve Candidate A running against Candidate B in specific districts on specific issues.  Candidates and parties also need money to run campaigns. Republicans can be facing an uphill fight on some or all of these points. Take incumbency - in Georgia a recent poll showed Herschel Walker running only a couple of points ahead of Democrat incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock.  These poll results a
Post a Comment
Read more

Inflation stays until Biden and the Democrats go

We won't put inflation behind us as long as Joe Biden is President and Democrats control one or both Houses of Congress.  There was going to be some level of inflation after the shutdowns of 2020, but the policies adopted by the Biden Administration and the spending bills passed by the Democrat Congress have elevated inflation to levels they have not been at in many years.  As long as Joe Biden is in the White House or Democrats control one House of Congress they will be able to prevent undoing the policies that have put us where we are. Starting on day one, the Biden Administration began adopting policies that fueled the growth of inflation.  Despite it being obvious for months that inflation was running hotter than expected the Biden Administration was in denial, saying inflation was transitory.   Supply chain issues were initially caused by other factors but the Biden Administration has talked about addressing this but none of their policies have been successful.   On the other
Post a Comment
Read more