n The Palin Problem, Kathleen Parker misses the big picture when she bemoans Palin's inexperience and uneven interview performances. Successful interviewing requires lots of practice. When the interviewers are partisan interrogators it's even dicier. The gift of glib gab that Obama has mastered is rare. He's been practicing for years. Palin admittedly needs a lot more practice, but has tremendous potential to be a great communicator of her interesting ideas. President Bush has had some very good ideas but has never really been able to communicate them well. Palin won't have that problem for long.
The far more important, big picture is this: The most "experienced" men and women in Washington created and allowed the Fannie/Freddie mortgage meltdown. Bill Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Jamie Gorelick, Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson, (experienced Democrats, all) and others created and "managed" the giant outer space blackhole that forced lenders to give money to unqualified buyers in order to social engineer housing for minorities, the poor, and even illegal immigrants.
In the bargain, Raines, Gorelick, Johnson, and others took hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses for their bad management while donating millions to politicians, Jesse Jackson, A.C.O.R.N., and other questionable groups.
Two years after McCain, Greenspan, and even the Bush Administration warned of the looming dangers, these "experienced" Democrats continued to defend the corruption and took campaign donations from Fannie/Freddie. Even now, the Democrats have tried to reserve 20% of the bail out profits for the crooked A.C.O.R.N., whom Obama represented as a lawyer and trainer. They are experienced-- at being shameless.
In the midst of the worst financial crisis in memory feckless Harry Reid, whining Nancy Pelosi, and other Democrats are pointing their crooked little fingers of blame at McCain and the Republicans. They continue to politicize the crisis this week blaming John McCain for "blowing up" an agreement that never existed. McCain, to his credit has not responded to these outright lies. Unfortunately the liberal media is quite happy to push the this dubious version of events. Historically there is enough blame for both parties. But the underlying common theme here is that all of the people involved are "experienced." Seems it hasn't done them (or us) very much good.
This is precisely Palin's appeal to so many people. She is relatively untainted by the corrupt Washington mindset. We know she bravely took on entrenched politicians in her own state and won. We already know that she has a certain skill set and knowledge about governing at the city and state level, running a family business, energy experience, and so on. She is smart and will learn what she needs to know about Washington's ways. As number two on the ticket, she will not be president any time soon. Despite the Democrats' vile ads to the contrary, McCain is not going to die tomorrow.
Obama, who has learned all the talking points during his two years of running for President, is a mile wide and and inch deep. His smooth talking covers up what he doesn't know.
He is still the "present" voting state pol who won't take a stand or dirty his hands on tough issues. Obama was perfectly willing to remain in Florida this week selfishly practicing for the debate instead of going to Washington to be involved in one of the most important deals of our lifetime. Saying that his colleagues can "call me" if he can be useful is absurd. If Bush had said something like this, the media and the impeachment crowd would be all over his indifference. The idea that Obama and McCain, who are paid to be Senators, would not be directly involved in this decision, is simply outrageous.
The typical old hack, class baiting, failed liberal ideas are Obama's core beliefs. His creepy racist, terrorist, uber liberal socialist friends will all end up in his Washington orbit if he is elected president. Sleep overs in the Lincoln bedroom will be fascinating. And look out if Democrats control all three branches of government!
Joe Biden, another lawyer, is a guy who has never done anything but be a politician since he was 29 years old. He has tons of "experience" but he has been wrong on many things over the years including partitioning Iraq and the surge. Voters have already rejected him many times in his run for national office. What if the gaff-o-matic becomes president for some reason? Please...
Sorry Kathleen, I'll take McCain/Palin any day to Obama/Biden.