It’s My Imagination

Sarah Palin For Vice President?

Over the past several days, I’ve been attempting to make some rational sense out of John McCain’s choice for his Vice Presidential running mate.  Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, previous mayor of small town in Alaska, a mom, wife and first Republican Vice Presidential candidate who is not a white male.  The choice does make me wonder.

First of all, Palin has no experience with foreign policy or the International stage.  She was the mayor of a fairly small town in Alaska prior to becoming the state’s governor.  While she does have a record of making change, it is still, a limited record.  While McCain has continued to argue that Obama’s lack of experience does not qualify him to be President, how does Palin’s lack of experience qualify her to be Vice President.  Remember, should something happen to McCain to incapacitate him in any way from the responsibilities of the presidency, Palin would be required to step in.  Is she truly up for the job?

To cause me to wonder even more about McCain’s choice, it was announced over the weekend that Palin’s 17 year old daughter Bristol is pregnant.  Now, I am not the mother of a teenage daughter, yet.  My first reaction to this news was wondering if McCain’s camp knew about the pregnancy before making the announcement.  According to the lawyer who completed the background review with Palin, Arthur B. Culvahouse, she and her husband voluntarily announced the pregnancy to the campaign.  Now I’m hearing on today’s news that not only did they know, but Palin is happy about her daughter’s pregnancy and her upcoming nuptuals to the baby’s father.  HAPPY?  They stated that they are even looking forward to being grandparents!  Give me a break!

As a parent of a 12 year old, I’d like to know how they reacted when their daughter informed them that she was pregnant, their REAL reaction.  Maybe they are happy about it now, they’ve had time to accept it, but what are their real feelings and how is the entire family coping and learning from this experience.  Are we supposed to tell our daughter’s that it’s okay to get pregnant at 17, especially if you plan to marry and live off of your family because you’re too young to support yourselves?

This has really thrown a big wrench in how I feel about voting in this election.  Obama, who has done nothing for the State of Illinois since being elected to office, has a questionably corrupt background and although very intelligent, comes off as insincere or McCain, bold and daring, willing to fight the establishment, but chooses an unknown with questionable parenting skills and moral values as his running mate.