What is he thinking?

I am going to base this ENTIRELY on Wikipedia and CNN.com articles, so as I'm not entirely informed, I don't profess that this should be taken in any way too seriously as a political commentary, but rather a first impression.

Let's see what Wiki says about Sarah Palin, in a nutshell...

Runner up in a beauty pageant, which got her to college, which led to a journalism degree and her early career as a .... sports reporter.

City councilwoman and then mayor for Wasilla, Alaska, population less than 10,000.

Current governor of Alaska, population less than a million.

It seems that her politics are clean, and she is a strong advocate for ethical politics and has spoken against corruption, and is an advocate for environmental policies including "independence from big oil companies." *Note, her husband is in the oil industry, and, as will be mentioned later, wants to drill for oil in Alaskan national reserve lands.

She is anti-abortion, anti-same-sex marriage, is pro capital punishment, and advocates creationism to be taught alongside evolution in schools!!!!

She is for drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, which even McCain opposes.

She has five children; her eldest son is in the army, and her youngest, born this year (she is 44), unfortunately has Down syndrome.

I don't mean this in a smart-ass way, but I wonder what McCain is thinking. He must have his reasons to pick a 44-year old woman whose only political experience has been in Alaska, a state in many aspects removed from the continental U.S., with no foreign policy experience, and
who I'm sure many will question whether she can become this country's Commander in Chief if something were to ever, God forbid, happen to McCain, who would be the oldest non-incumbent president in U.S. history. As this story develops, it will be exciting to see where all of this goes, though I admit I am surprised and a bit impressed that McCain chose a woman. I think Hilary would have been a better choice but that's my opinion :) Ha. Can you imagine an Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Clinton ticket? God forbid. Hooray for Clinton giving her full support to Obama!!!

I am excited for the Republican Convention in Minneapolis to see what the Republicans will say. The DNC has been very exciting, and I was very lucky to hear Obama's speech last night (read his speech here), which I believe addressed a lot of the reasons why he, as opposed to McCain, gets why certain things need to be done, and done soon. Like he said, it's not that McCain doesn't care; it's that he most likely doesn't know.

By the way, did you know McCain attended Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, a prep boarding school that today, in 2008, has a yearly cost of attendance of $38,000? Nothing wrong with that, lucky him that his wealthy navy admiral father could send him there, but this just shows that from the beginning, he was quite removed from the lifestyle that most American teenagers in the 50's were leading. The fact that he was a teenager in the 50's also brings to mind the question of how in the world is he supposed to relate to the country's youngest voters? I think McCain is a bright politician, but this country has had enough of wealthy old white men who have never lived among "us"!!

In conclusion, how lucky are we to partake in this historical moment? A woman nearly made it as president, and now, a woman is in the race for becoming vice president! We are going to witness America's first black president, and I'm looking four or eight years ahead, and thinking, Hilary, why not?!

This is an exciting time, to be sure. But the question remains, what is McCain thinking? Is this a plot to fill seats at the RNC, which I hear has been difficult? Does he truly believe Palin is a better choice than, say, Romney? Palin is 28 years younger than McCain, and perhaps he views her as that voice that can relate to the younger population. Can't wait to see where all of this goes.

And seriously, people, check out this site and read through the speeches. I am sure they must be on youtube, but speeches are really interesting when read, as well :) They make for remarkable documents for posterity, and like I said last night, I expect my kid to study last night's speech in his or her political literature class two decades from now :)


Oh what the heck. Here are some youtube clips :)

One of the speeches I most enjoyed, Beau Biden's, Joe Biden's son, and Delaware's Attorney General and a Captain in the Delaware Army National Guard (and born the day after my birthday!!). Check it :)



And one of the best parts of Obama's speech. *Note- Obama's comment about McCain saying that middle class means making less than $5 million/year is in relation to an August 15, 2008 response that McCain gave to the question of what he believes "rich" to mean, to which McCain said, "I think if you're just talking about income, how about $5 million?" (Obama's response: "I would argue that if you are making more than $250,000, then you are in the top 3, 4 percent of this country," he said. "You are doing well.") McCain's spokespeople later said McCain had been "joking." Hardly believable when his wife is an heiress and his own background was highly privileged. Seriously, this man has NO IDEA what it means to be a regular American. At least Obama went to law school on loans, not because his daddy had been an alumni! Anyways, I regress. Here is part of Obama's speech:



P.S. Happy birthday to John McCain. Today, August 29, 2008, he turns 72.