Palin Comparison

I wish I was a disinterested bystander as the political theater raises the curtain on yet another act. I am not. Because of that several things have crossed my mind that bear contemplation.

Though risky, choosing Governor Palin was genius on McCain's part. More than anything else, he has been shaky with his base. Christian conservatives. As the press has made clear, their leadership, who ignores the issue of separation of church and state by trying to control the political process and force their standards on any and all who are not devout followers, is fully on board the McCain/Palin band wagon.

I also have to put in perspective that Idaho thinks she is the second coming, taking that role away from Obama, because she was born here, resided her for her first three months and returned for two months at Northern Idaho College before moving on to the University of Idaho to get a degree in journalism.

In all fairness, however, I must say she has important experience from her time as a Mayor and Governor if for no other reason than the fact that she has actually run something and has functioned as a chief executive with all that entails - from managing budgets to setting and enacting policy.

None of the three Senators have that type of hands on experience. She is not, however, heading the ticket and will be number two to a man who is controlling. It questions just how much of a role she will actually have or if she will just be the token woman.

The fact that she will be number two to McCain still bothers me because there is as much background that she lacks as that which she has. Being a gun advocate who hunts, dresses out and eats caribou does not qualify her for the Presidency nor the Vice Presidency. Nor does the fact that she is the mother of five, one of which has Down's syndrome. Who will be caring for that child?

U.S. Representative Cathie McMorris Rodgers of Washington also has a child with Down's syndrome. When asked how she thought Palin would cope, she replied that like any other working mother, "you take it day by day and some days are better than others."

Unlike Congressional members, who work fewer hours and have more vacation than any normal working person, the Vice Presidency is not a part time job! Taking sick days to tend to your child's sniffles is not part of the package.

Then again, there is the Hillary factor. Should the McCain team win I can foresee pressure for him to step down after one term to open the door for her. It would also be Hillary's last time to mount a challenge. Imagine that. Two women battling it out. And you think this year has been wild and woolly!

As I have made perfectly clean on many occasions I'm not a huge fan of Hillary Clinton. Mark my words, however, her followers would be there for her - and if that were the choice I would be joining them. I fear the zealotry of the Christian Conservative movement far more than I fear another Clinton in the White House.

For now, however, the decision facing us is do we believe Obama is as pragmatic and well intentioned as I'd like to believe or that John McCain can reign in his temper, become aware of what's really happening in the country and the world and actually believe in something other than the idea that because he was a prisoner of war he deserves the Presidency?