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“Is Sarah Palin Qualified To Be President?”
Chris Matthews just put that question to Judd Gregg on Hardball. Gregg’s answer:
Of course she is. She’s been governor of a large state. She’s run for vice-president. Of course Sarah Palin is qualified to be president.
32 Responses to ““Is Sarah Palin Qualified To Be President?””
My answer is that probably no one who runs for president is truly qualified when they first run. Probably the most qualified people who have run for president in the last fifty years are Johnson, Nixon and Bush I. Not a ringing endorsement.
Quick question. If Alaska is a major state, which are the minor states?
merkin, YOu've hit the nails head!
To quote one of my favorite human beings:
Also one of my favorites.
If the question were rephrased as is Palin one of the most qualified to be president I would have to answer no. Until she demonstrates some capacity for independent, original thought she falls into the Strassian Reagan/W.Bush mold of figurehead presidents relying totally on their advisers. We are batting 1 for 2 with those, which is not good.
I like the late Chet Huntley's take as well – “we all agree you would have to be crazy to want to be president and then we wonder why we have crazy presidents.
If the so-called MSM were so diametrically opposed to former Gov. Palin becoming President, they'd do a black-out on her, freeze her out as cold as Northern Alaska. Fact is, Matthews and others have air-time to fill, and Palin = ratings. Money trumps all.
I like the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy phrasing:
The major problem — one of the major problems, for there are several — one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.
I advocate a draft: randomly pick an unsuspecting, but qualified bloke, kidnap them in the middle of the night, train them for a couple of years, then force them to serve for a standard term. Offer them no pensions (except for a nice vacation and a fancy plaque, as parting gifts) and completely exclude them from anything related to the government for the rest of their lives, so that they know that they're going back to the real world when they're done.
Steve, another Vonnegut fan here. He was a truly great American writer. I was fortunate enough to see him give a talk at the local university once many years ago. He did not disappoint.
ProfElwood, your suggestion reminds me of Shirley Jackson's short story, “The Lottery”.
As for Palin, if she is qualified for prez, then so too is my next door neighbor – and a dozen other people within a mile of my home.
I am so jealous… Though I've read every (any) thing he wrote I was never that fortunate.
FWIW… Reading Kurt Vonnegut WILL soothe your sole.
Constitutionally, yes she meets the quaklifications as does Barack Obama. I would not call ither of them qualified to the degree of my liking though.
I agree with merkin to a degree. The POTUS is a unique job, and I don't know that any amount of experience and preparation could ever make one fully qualified.
However, her primary qualification of “Governor of a large state” is nearly useless, given the resignation after a year and a half. Her time as Mayor of a small town does at least show some time in the traces, but having lived in a very small town, I'm very aware it's difficult to extrapolate those types of challenges to a national level.
That said — I disagree strongly with JSpencer when he says, “As for Palin, if she is qualified for prez, then so too is my next door neighbor – and a dozen other people within a mile of my home.” She's far more qualified than… say… I am. Or likely, you are. And I'm absolutely sure I'm more qualified than any of my neighbors, if only in terms of grasping (many of) the issues.
I would guess there is a difference between being qualified for an office and being any good at it. Palin is sadly too inexperienced (as is Obama) to be a good president. Beyond that, she appears to have an immaturity and rigidity that reminds me a lot of the guy who just left the White House. It was unfortunate that she was chosen as VP candidate as I think with a decade or so of experience and gaining some humility she could have been a force for the GOP instead of a joke.
On Kurt Vonnegut, I too read almost everything he wrote and loved most of it. His stories were essentially parables that taught their lessons with eloquence and entertainment. Like many authors, the quality of his work faded somewhat culminating in the awful Man Without a Country which had lost all of the eloquence and was mainly a lot of bitching. Amazon declined to post my review on that one.
But, clearly, Palin DOESN'T grasp the issues. In fact, she has very poor command of very basic issues. I'm not sure why you say she's more qualified than yourself, for example. Make no mistake about it–this woman is a dangerous idealogue with a simplistic, shockingly ignorant view of the world.
“I'm not sure why you say she's more qualified than yourself, for example. “
Primarily because I've never served a day in public office in my life. Ever. Nor have I ever made decisions with public funds that affect thousands and/or millions of people. She has. I don't have to agree with her politics to see that she's at least got some relevant stuff on her resume.
And imo, it doesn't make sense to conflate her ideology with her experience. Furthermore, I honestly think the fact that she's from Alaska is a HUGE reason why her view of the world is so confounding to many in the lower 48 states. Issues (and approaches to them) really couldn't be much different up there.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy analogy is a good one. Sarah Palin and the Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox have a lot in common. Both are two faced, self centered, and crazier than bed bugs.
“her primary qualification of 'Governor of a large state' is nearly useless”
Aside from the cheaper sniping at Palin that this reminds me of (I'm not accusing you, Polimom, of doing it here), there is something else (another more important issue) that I think of promptly here. This would be as true, also, of, say, Wyoming rather than a “megastate,” which is understood to mean a state that is often of impressive physical size, but more importantly has a large population. This is on a absolute rather than a relative (density) basis. However, it illustrates that someone running Alaska or Wyoming, the other example I think of immediately in this context (has to do with the States, why equal suffrage is justified in the Senate and why “equal footing” is deserved, all that related lefty-gripe material), might be considered inferior (not necessarily due to regional discrimination and slighting by dinos in Blue Nation) to someone running a smaller but more heavily populated and complex body, the principal example being Mayor Bloomberg (unappealing, but always considered in this light) and the “city-state” of New York City.
With Palin, the hatred toward her simply devalues her detractors — I would simply put things into their proper perspective and remind readers that the conventional, mainstream, _normal_ view of Palin and her future as a President would include and depend on what was evident and obvious before, and (re)stated in the Vanity Fair article:
“[S]he should go home, keep her head down, show that she could govern effectively, and quietly educate herself about foreign and domestic policy with the help of a cadre of experienced advisers.”
Then she would meet anybody's reasonable criteria for qualification for the office.
It's not as if everyone expects the President to be a living God on earth, not merely their parent and all.
I really liked Man Without a Country. It is not Galapagos or Sirens of Titan but I still enjoyed it, of course in many ways I largely agreed which is most likely why. Then again I love Nabokov but not every book is Lolita. Man Without A Country reminds me of Nabokovs Speak, Memory. It is narcissistic and self involved but is really only meant for hard core fans that want to see how their brains tick. They do not hold even a candle to much of their other work though.
Zaphod was funny though. Well…as long as your life did not depend on him or anything.
“It was unfortunate that she was chosen as VP candidate.”
That's probably the reasonable verdict of most. No, not the scummier elitist and playpen stuff by Brooks (who's little different than someone else who's a separate thread subject currently, Chris Matthews, as well as someone I've mentioned before, David Frum), who is no “authority” (except in DC and among Northeastern liberals, perhaps) on conservatives or non-liberals. But I believe the public overall was as I was, first surprised, then initially impressed by a novel choice, then the bloom quickly wore off. Obama is far from the God his few hard-core worshippers may still believe he is, and the honeymoon is over, but Obama is certainly competent (and a good pretty-boy Dem figurehead above all others in his administration and most others in his party and surrounding “society,” it has not gone unnoticed), and the “passing of the honeymoon” happened in (note) conventional slow motion relative to Palin's intro.
“impressed by a novel choice”
Novelty in and of itself amounts to little. Even Obama and Hillary Clinton as pioneers (black, female) didn't rely solely on this, ever.
Then again, Palin might be the most qualified:
The job of the president is not to wield power himself, but to lead attention away from it…
On the other hand, why isn't anyone talking about her record as governor? We elect officials to make decisions, not do interviews, yet that's all that either side seems to talk about.
I suppose I should make a distinction between getting elected, and actually serving the public through the holding of higher office. Yes, Sarah Palin has the ability to get elected to certain positions. Namely, Mayor of Wasilla, AL and Governor of Alaska. This is a commendable, and impressive talent.
But let's see what she accomplished with her tenure in both of those positions. As mayor of Wasilla, she oversaw the construction of a sports center that went over budget in an eminent domain dispute, left the city of 6700, $20 million in new debt and actually had conversations about book banning (!) with the local librarian. Nothing earth shattering there, slightly reckless, perhaps, but whatever.
She then manages to get elected Governor of Alaska. WOW! That's great, a young conservative woman in a position to make real change. New thinking, and all that. You, go, Sarah! She spends less than a year in that position, and is tapped to be the GOP VP nominee.
It becomes painfully clear, very quickly, that this woman has, at best, limited knowledge about the world outside of Alaska. I will state again, she is proudly, willfully ignorant– a very dangerous combination. Being ignorant is fully correcible, if one has the motivation and desire to change. Being proudly ignorant, proudly uninformed and uneducated is not. Not to mention she has a bad habit of telling patent falsehoods, that are easily, embarrassingly refuted with a few key stokes and a working knowledge of Google.
Finally, rather than stay in office in Alaska, working hard to show her governing prowess, she RESIGNS(!), after a year and a half in the position of governor to do what? Have a ghost writer produce a self serving book that is neither memoir, nor policy based, but simply payback to the very people who set her upon the national stage? I am scratching my head here.
She has neither the temperament, nor the intellect to be a national leader. If she really wanted to effect change, why did she resign as governor? Constitutionally, she is eligible to be President, as am I, as are you. But she lacks probably the most important quality a President needs–the ability to know when they don't know something. A self awareness, an intellectual curiosity central to the innate ability to LEAD.
Thankfully, the portion of the American public that understands this, is not taken in. The portion of the American public that embraces her, is not doing itself any favors. She is patently unqualified to be president by any measure of thinking, rational people.
“they'd do a black-out on her, freeze her out”
That's the logical and normal thing to do, as opposed to the pathological, hateful, sensationalist choice.
I really liked Man Without a Country
As you say, a main factor on whether a person enjoyed Man Without a Country depended largely on whether they agreed with the message. In that sense, I felt MWAC was a lot like watching Fox News or reading DailyKos.
And damn it, I wanted a story! Vonnegut was such a great storyteller but abandoned that approach and just groused about GWB and Big Oil.
Finally I thought Vonnegut betrayed his readers and much of what he had stood for by charging $24 list price for a small short hardcover book that was largely his ramblings. He had adopted what he had previously criticized – a callous, greedy, corporate attitude.
I just figured he had finally gotten so old he no longer had full control nor knowledge of how his work was being sold and packaged. I can think of a few movies based off his work that I think would not have happened short of him slowly losing touch and in his defense the man was freakin old lol.
I agree though I wanted more stories but I read it not long before his death so felt lucky to have anything. I looked on the politics in it a bit differently though, I saw his tirades as a reflection of his generations view on what was being called a conservative movement. This version of conservatism is very radical and far from the text book definition of conservative which I can see that being rough to understand at such an advanced age. I happen to think that Reagan would have been moved back to the Dem party during the Bush years as well though since he was a new deal dem as well.
To me he was a new deal era person looking at the dark abyss of another extreme. If I am correct a similar thing will likely hit conservatives in another 30 years or so when we hit this sides extreme. Its not that they are right or wrong as much as come from a very different background and have a different idea of what reality is. For instance he embraced socialisim because he knows its history in this country while half of our population has a knee jerk reaction to the word now it was not always this way. It sounds revolutionary and slanted from someone born after say 1970 but to them I am sure we sound like mad fascists.
This.
I don't like Palin much, except for the way mere mention of her names makes some Progressives look like the biggest idiots on the planet. (except for maybe Andrew Sullivan who looks like the biggest idiot in the universe at mention of her name) Thats always good for a laugh.
“On the other hand, why isn't anyone talking about her record as governor?”
1. The critics are irrational, as usual.
2. They ignore the relevent details, including being governor as a resume as well as springboard position.
(Note that at lefty attacks on Bush were demented and the most hateful to date, but at least they involved the rational inclusion of viewing Bush's record as Texas governor — we saw a dearth of that in the irrationationality about Palin, as well as the related inference that she would probably behave in the White House as she did as governor, as with Bush and Texas, and with Bill Clinton in Arkansas.)
3. Alaska is seen as Red Nation and a lesser-light state, as opposed to Dem dino stuff like New York.
4. It's probably convenient for lefties to devalue the states or deny their importance routinely, given their contempt as well as disdain for constitutional federalism and restricting Washington's role in US life.
“Thats always good for a laugh.”
Palin gets to laugh all the way to the bank, in addition to relishing the fame the critics create for her.
“With Palin, the hatred toward her simply devalues her detractors”
With Lib-Dems, the hatred toward them simply devalues their detractor.
Lets stop the B.S. Sarah Palin is a simpleton and a fraud. You want her to be president? Fine. We already had eight years of the same sort, and we are enduring the miserable results. Go for it…
““Is Sarah Palin Qualified To Be President?”
NO!
I don't like Palin much, except for the way mere mention of her names makes some Progressives look like the biggest idiots on the planet.
It certainly makes them look desperately insecure. More Hitchhiker's Guide advice: Don't Panic. Sarah Palin can stir people up, but she's unelectable.
Moreover it's hard to imagine she would still want the job after her VP run. She seems to have concluded life is too short even for the headaches of the governorship of Alaska.