the most common comeback of Republican (Palin/McCain supporters) when Palin is critiqued (about her lack of experience, especially) is "well, Obama doesn't have more experience than she does" or "Obama is just as underqualified as she is" or "Obama got the same preferential treatment as she did" - what is this, a race to the bottom?

If you really don't want Obama in office because he's inexperienced, unqualified, and hero-worshipped, then you shouldn't want Palin in the office either, right? The fact that the exact same arguments that are lobbed against Obama are used as reasons to support Palin is ridiculous. Either a) there's some underlying (and unmentioned) reason that you don't like him or, b) you don't actually care about whether the right person is in office, so long as it's a Republican.

So let's try a little experiment: for argument's sake, let's say that both of them are equally inexperienced, ill-prepared and wrongly hero-worshipped. When you strip those common complaints away, who would you rather have run the country? In the interest of full disclosure, I'll say that personally I'd prefer Obama given his intellectual strengths, skills as an orator and his more worldly approach to politics. For all people complain that he's too 'cosmopolitan', I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing in a world as interconnected and interdependent as ours.

Many people don't want either in office. I happen to be one of them. We have some pretty crappy choices this year.

I am going with Obama for the same reasons Jessica23 outlined. We've had government by ignorant fools for nearly eight years now and have seen the results. If voting for the smart guy is "elitist", then so be it. We're not electing a beauty queen. We're electing someone whose judgment will impact the lives of nearly everyone on the planet.

Those are all reasons i'm voting for him. Others are the specific policy stances he's taking (almost across the board, but excluding FISA) and his "no drama" approach to the campaign. Specifically, that was a key goal in any staffing decisions.

Realistically, I don't think you can have a race with "no drama", but I applaud him for trying.

Dear God, Jessica, what are you thinking?

Obama is a socialist. He wrote the Global Poverty Act, which would jettison 1% of our GDP and sign us on to a host of UN policies that would strip the US of her sovereignty and destroy our economy. I'd rather have Daffy Duck running the country than this Marxist.

Now, "skills as an orator"? Are you listening to the same stammering, stuttering Barack Obama that can't finish a sentence when it's not on a teleprompter? There are more "uhs" and "ahs" coming out of his mouth than a dentist's office and a proctologist's office combined. If Palin is a "pig," then say hello to Porky.

Please explain to me what Obama's intellectual strengths are. I haven't seen them yet.

Finally, yes, I've stated many times how the media is overlooking Obama's experience (or lack thereof), but I also try to point out (unsuccessfully, it seems) that running a state that is of such high interest to our energy industry and national security is qualification for president. And Palin's the VP. You guys all know that McCain is the presidential nominee, right?

FordTruck5Speed,

How does that 1% (which would have to be approved by Congress, by the way, right?? I mean, they write laws, not the President) compare to the trillions we've spent on the Iraq war?

Ford Truck 5 Seed... Seriously?

SEROIUSLY?!?

Barack Obama - A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama managed to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, and that isn't an easy task. Having your daddy donate several million dollars and barely squeaking thru was our last President.

Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. The University of Chicago is a highly selctive school. If a person teaches constitutional law there, you have to give him credit for accomplishment.

Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003. His first Senatorial victory was in March 2004.

Sarah Palin.... PTA mom.

She served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska city council from 1992 to 1996, then won two terms as mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004.

Elected governor of Alaska in November 2006 Town Mayor. First Term Governor.

Dont' get me wrong. She looks really good in a skirt and glasses.

You forgot, she's also a former beauty queen.

Runner-up. I'm astounded that the media hasn't seized on this critical issue: Why didn't Sen. McCain select the winner of the Miss Alaska candidate? Doesn't he believe in what's best for America?