Posted by
Tom G. on Saturday, August 30, 2008 3:08:25 PM
A friend passed along the comments made by a caller on the Medved Show yesterday about experience and Sarah Palin. The Challenges to Sarah Palin's experience can best be met by the follow..."Should something aweful happen to Senator McCain, perhaps she could select Senator Biden as her Vice President"...
Experience---certainly experience in the affairs that impact our nation are important for consideration as to who might be the best choice to be elected President. The host of areas that a President must deal with over the course of 4 years is breathtaking. From Budgets, to negotitions, to contracts, to economics, World Affairs and domestic policy, Education and Health issue all are vital to and important for our Presidents to have some realm of understanding, aren't they?
Perhaps we might expand this list to include the experience of owning a house, running a business, hiring and firing to make a payroll, negotiating with your mechanic or handy man.
Yet, Presidential biographer Richard Reeves points out that no one is prepared to be President for it is about reacting to events, not creating them. Presidents are subject to events that which they are required to respond, not legislate. This is why the experience that has possibly best prepared people is that of being an executive as with a Governnor. Senators, legislators are less tested on momentary decisions while Governors are tested by such.
Obama has experience in legislatures not as a chief executive. Palin is matched against the vast political experience of Joseph Biden not that of Senator Obama. John McCain has been a leader yet has spent the last 28 years as a legislator, not an executive. So, while Palin may lack Washington Experience, she has adult experiences, with balancing budgets, mothering, wife-ing and as a Mayor and Governor...so it might be somewhat of an aburd point to argue she is not prepared to make decisions.
What will matter, is how much Sarah will be considered as a top advisor to President McCain, yet, as history would suggest, this too is little comfort in the success of the VP. Consider FDR rarely spoke to his Vice President, Harry S Truman. Truman succeeded FDR upon his death in Warm Springs Georgia. FDR had failed to keep his Vice in the loop on any of the major issues of the day. From the Post War world considerations, to the Manhatten Project Truman was an outsider in the Roosevelt Administration.
Chester Arthur was a Customs Inspector who was choosen and eventually became President, so it is not a crazy and rare as you might think. Democrats will say that Biden is a solid choice, however his decision making is suspect.
Biden is the senior person on the experential scale compared to Obama, however, his public statements fail the sniff test. He was wrong on Soviet Detente verse Reagan hard line SDI policies. He was wrong on Iran in the 70's and early 80's and is wrong today on Iraq and his suggestions of failure and the need to partition into thirds. He was wrong on the 1st Gulf War and the list is large, his judgement is poor on the important issues we have faced.
Heartbeat away from the helm of power...is she ready? Palin has experience as a chief executive, this is training in making decisions based upon events. As Richard Reeves points out, this is the key, the ability to react to events. Sarah Palin has this experience while Obama and Biden have no record on event driven decision making.
So, we can make the argument that of all the candidates, Sarah Palin is the best prepared. We can fully expect the arugment focus upon experience rather than decision making but the preperation of stressful situations is the training for leadership.
JFK...the Senate and the ship of state...The best and the brightest...boils down the the people you surround yourself with. Kennnedy had the team of advisors, so famous, a book was written about the Best and Brightest. Yet, Kennedy failed in the Bay of Pigs decision, elevated us into Vietnam, and failed in his first meeting with the Soviet Premier. Kennedy had to learn through the experience he garnered in the White House, for the experience in the Senate offered nothing that served his reactive needs.
Professors, those who can do, those who cannot teach...you may recall hearing this, but the humor is quickly lost when one places too much importance in IQ. Biden once remarked that I know I have a bigger IQ than so and so...
Ultimately, the Presidency is an office best suited for a person equipped to make decisions. The President must deal with what confronts them...react to the events of the day. Palin is a Governor, yes only 2 years in, but she has the preperation none of the others have, an experience in event directed reaction.
Ask any MOM if she has preperation in stress, and spot decisioning making. From PTA, to Mayor, to Governor, to Hockey Mom and finally to wife...helping manage a business and paying a mortgage, she is prepared, she is as prepared as she has to be...She has real life experience, the name of the leader of Georgia, Chili, Chad and Qatar can be learned, the name of the real power in Russia, Putin can be briefed. She can be taught what she needs to know, but she has prepared all her life to Lead!
Palin for President.