Elevating Mediocrity: This is Sarah Palin's Brain

to wonder why a mother with five children never traveled abroad. Um, maybe because she's got other things to do? My sister only has two kids and has never had the time or money to go to Japan or Korea. Does that mean she has a "low IQ"?

I give the writer credit for noting Obama's limited experience to be in the top job: he says Palin "makes Obama, saddled with a resume so thin he pads it with the entry "community organizer," look like an elder statesman."

You might consider re-reading the article. Just a suggestion!

As far as the experience factor goes, Obama also has solid legal credentials, lots of travel under his belt, as well as eight years in the Illinois state legislature and a couple in the US Senate. Palin has spent her adult life raising kids, being mayor of a teeny town (I think I passed through Wasilla, but I blinked my eyes), with a couple years as governor of a not-very-populous state--and hasn't done a great job of any of the above, to say the least. And she's anti-environment, pro-hunting, pro-war, anti-choice, pro-capital punishment--well, you know the drill.

If I were to choose between Obama and McCain, it would have to be Obama. At least Obama has Biden, who's got tons of experience and hasn't sold his soul to special interests. McCain is too old, unhealthy, short-tempered, and addled to even be running, and if Palin took over in the event of his death or incapacity, God help America!

Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor. -Daily Kos reader

and got the same impression I did when I read it the first time... that the author was assuming that lack of foreign travel was a sign of a "worrisome... incurious intellect that dovetails regrettably with Palin's past as a beauty queen."

That sounds to me like the writer is saying Palin didn't travel abroad because she is some kind of dumb bimbo beauty queen. You are welcome to your own interpretation, of course.

"As far as the experience factor goes, Obama also has solid legal credentials, lots of travel under his belt, as well as eight years in the Illinois state legislature and a couple in the US Senate. "

Most of his travel seems to have been as a child or young adult. And pretty much everybody who runs for president has "solid legal credentials" -- in fact, I'd like to see a few more non-lawyers running for president. It might be refreshing.

His record in Illinois and the U.S. Senate seems to indicate a competent legislator, but nothing that shows the promise of someone capable of making the very lofty changes he's talking about.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a McCain supporter or anything, but I just don't see why people everywhere are having O-gasms and swooning at rallies as if they're seeing The Beatles at Shea Stadium. Ever since JFK, I think Americans have been far too obsessed with finding another president with "charisma." Charisma with experience is great. Charisma without experience doesn't mean a whole lot to me.

Here's my take on it. The U.S. is a young country, its citizens on the whole are not terribly politically sophisticated or savvy, and on top of that, it's perceived as the most powerful, most admired country on earth. That's a lot of pressure. I don't think most Americans know how to handle that. And so, when someone like Obama or Palin comes along, most people look at their star quality, which both of them are providing.

Now, in my book, Obama clearly has a formidable intellect to back him up, whether or not his specific credentials for the job are impressive (and, of course, let us not forget that in the White House for the last eight years has been a guy of dim intellect, also with a not impressive resume, but, this being America, his family/political ties and money have taken him far). Obama is no dumbie. In fact, I would say that politically speaking, he's brilliant. I make fun of lawyers just like everybody else, but the reality is that many people in national government are attorneys and a few of them are actually good guys.

As for Palin, she went to something like five different schools before she got a degree in journalism, and then worked as a sportscaster, of all things. And have you noticed that she isn't doing interviews? Why? Because the McCain people know that she can't answer difficult questions about her own background or the Republican party platform off the top of her head. She's not prepared, but I'm sure she's getting a cram course in right-wing spin whenever she's not out in public. It's one thing to effectively read a speech someone else wrote to a highly partisan group like the RNC, quite another to stand up to public scrutiny without the crutch of pre-digested words, adoring fans, and a teleprompter to keep you standing.

And BTW, I loved JFK, even though I was too young to vote for him. He had much more than a pretty face and an impressive mouth. He certainly had his faults, but he's the last president I have ever gotten excited about, with the possible exception of Jimmy Carter, who unfortunately wasn't strong enough to fight the political forces who brought him down.

Will I vote for Obama? Don't know. Depends on how close the race is by Election Day. There's also Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, or Dennis Kucinich as a write in. But McCain/Palin in the White House is just not acceptable to me.