Nice article, and I agree entirely. But if Palin is not a serious candidate, what does that say about Obama? Sure, McCain may be old (notwithstanding that his mother is in her 90s and still going strong), which means that Palin could be far closer to having to step into the president's shoes than any VP in a long time. But there is no question that Obama definitely WILL be stepping into the president's shoes if he wins. For all intents and purposes Palin and Obama have about the same lack of experience -- the only real difference is that Palin actually has a smattering of hands-on experience in the executive branch (brief and limited though it is). So I ask again, if Palin is not a serious candidate, what does that say about Obama?

Obama has been saying lately that his relevant experience is the fact that he has run this campaign (pretty well, I admit). But if that is his experience, does that constitute an admission that when he started running for President, he was unqualified?

Actually, a Presidency is more than just one person. It's a whole administration. It wasn't President Bush who decided to go to war with Iraq, it was a whole bunch of people, including a majority of the American people, if polls can be believed. Going just by resumes, neither Obama nor Palin is qualified, but that doesn't necessarily mean either could not do the job.

Very fair post.

The bottom line is that nobody is prepared for the Presidency, you can either do it or you can't.

I think it is somewhat like what John Madden said about being a head coach in the NFL - I'm going from memory and this is the essence - "If you are meant to be a head coach, you can be a head coach at 32. If you're not, then whatever experience you have doesn't matter."

Let's stop this ridiculous nonsense right now. The following is summarized from Wikipedia. Which of these educations would you want the "leader of the free world" to have as experience?

Barack Obama graduated from Columbia University, with a degree in political science, specializing in international relations. Five years later he attended Harvard Law School, where he was elected president of the Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991. Between the years of 1992 and 2004 he has taught constitutional law as either a lecturer or senior lecturer.

Sarah Palin spent her first college semester at Hawaii Pacific College, transferring in 1983 to North Idaho College and then to the University of Idaho. She attended Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska for one term, returning to the University of Idaho to complete her B.S. degree in communications- journalism. In 1988, she worked as a sports reporter for KTUU-TV in Anchorage, Alaska.

no presidential candidate runs his campaign. The decision making processes are all in the hands of the campaign manager. So Obama is STILL without qualifications.

That when you start goin' on about how Barack Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, approximately 87% of Republicans think you are talking about what Bill did to Monica, all over her blue dress.....

Can we all just agree that neither Obama nor Palin are terribly experienced? That seems pretty obvious. The difference is that Obama has been running around the country for over a year now answering questions and explaining why he should be president despite that lack of experience. Ask Obama (or Biden, McCain, Lieberman, Ridge...) to explain what's going on in Iraq or Pakistan or the US economy and you'll at least get informed explanations. Ask Palin and you'll get...well I don't know because I don't think anyone's been allowed to ask her yet.

And yes, Palin has executive experience. Maybe the next time I'm applying for a foreign policy job and they ask me to talk about economics or foreign policy, I'll just say, "Please, I don't need to know that. I have executive experience."

Of course, although our political process may operate like a bad American Idol episode, stupid answers like that don't work in the real world.

Which of these educations would you want the "leader of the free world" to have as experience?

No education beyond high school....Harry S Truman, Abraham Lincoln

B.S. Yale, MBA Harvard...George W. Bush

JD Duke University...Richard M Nixon

Harry Truman had 2 years of law school. Abe Lincoln didn't even attend high school, and had less than 1 year of formal schooling. I'd love to hear Palin say that she has a better education than Abe Lincoln. I think that would go over great.

@surfryder

the

Surfryder was arguing (I think) that an education from a prestigous school is a good predictor of presidential competence. By his standards, Palin does have a better education than Lincoln did. I was making the point that his standards are meaningless.

You seem to agree.

@surfryder

The world is full of smarmy, elitist, do-nothings. Most of them remain in colleges/universities earning pittance as "lecturers" so that they can pontificate liberally without worrying about real people's opinions, bitter people's opinions.

Plus, it'd be nice to have a nice rack in the Naval Observatory for once. I'm talking about the elk horns you jackass!!!

JJJake:

So I ask again, if Palin is not a serious candidate, what does that say about Obama?

She's not a serious candidate because she was chosen because she's a right-wing religious nut, and that's what gets you elected with the unwashed illiterate masses.

Forget the degrees, Obama was a constitutional law prof, a longtime IL state senator, and a U.S. Senator who's served on the Foreign Relations Committee and traveled all over the world, and has a detailed foreign and domestic policy platform for when he (hopefully) takes office.

Palin has been governor for 18 friggin' months, has been outside the country once and has never even voiced an opinion on foreign policy until she was fed anti-Obama talking points this week.

There is NO equivalency between the two. Not even close.

Very well said. Copy and paste this often on various blogs on the net where this bullshit "equivalency' inanity is being pushed by right wing yahoos.