Expectations of Excellence

OK. So we moved offices last week and were without internet for a week, so y'all know I was going crazy not being able to keep up with the polls and stuff! But now I'm back up and running, and once again, not really sure where to start with SO many things going on that I could blog about. I mean, there's the economy crashing down around us, Sarah Palin's Katie Couric interview, the debates, and I keep promising to share with you all why I am voting for Obama-Biden in clear, sensical terms (you know, instead of pointing out the evils of McCain/Palin and their policies....actually sharing why Obama/Biden is better).

But before I get to all that, I want to mention that in all of the "my candidate is better, my candidate is smarter, more experienced, went to war, whatever" I think we are forgetting one thing. We are supposed to be electing the PRESIDENT and VP. The 2 people who are going to represent our country to the rest of the world. We should expect these folks to not only be able to deliver a great speech with a teleprompter and some prep time, but to be able to speak off the cuff, to be one of the smartest, most-well educated among us, since we are hiring them to speak for us. We want them to know what they are talking about it and to say it well. They don't have to be EXPERTS in every issue from economics, to foreign policy, to health care. But we expect that they have THOUGHT about it. We expect they have read about issues, or been briefed by experts in the field, that they have taken time to not just memorize talking points but to have thought about each issue in a critical way. We have a right to expect EXCELLENCE. We should demand it. It's part of the reason our country has been so divided the past few elections-because each party props up their candidate, the BEST they have to offer in theory, and the American people have been a little skeptical....really, this is the best we have? Which is why these issues of experience, character, personality, temperament, have all become front and center lately. Because we need to choose the best of the bunch. And more than a few people have noticed that one person in particular in this race is not on an even playing field with everyone else.

You know who I'm talking about. My favorite Moose Hunter, Sarah Palin.

So conservatives are even starting to question whether Sarah Palin is "qualified" to be Vice-President, much less President should the need arise (remember kiddos, 1 in 5 VP's has had to take over). To me, as I have said in previous blogs, comparing this person's experience to that person's when the experiences are different in nature, is kind of pointless. I think the point here is that through the limited exposure we have had to Sarah Palin, both through interviews like the ones with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, and reports coming out of Alaska regarding her record as Mayor of Wasilla, and her recent accomplishments 18 months into her role as Governor, we have learned that Sarah Palin has not shown much intellectual curiosity as far as knowing what is going on in the world, or heck, even the rest of the US, during her time as Mayor or Governor. She did not have a passport til last year. Up until last week, she had never met a world leader. Her interviews have proved that she does not COMPREHEND foreign policy issues-as well as several domestic issues-beyond the talking points she has memorized. Her expertise is in energy. Which is important, but the economy and all its problems will be handed over to the next president, and we are in two wars, our tense relations with countries like Russia, Georgia, Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea make the news almost daily, and she has NO experience with any of those issues. And hasn't really proved that she's ever had an interest either-even since coming into office. She has some pretty extreme beliefs on social issues-McCain can talk all he wants about how far to the left Obama is, but I think that Palin may well be even further to the right. We have learned that despite being in office only 18 months, she has already managed to come under investigation, along with her husband, for ethics charges for using her position and influence to benefit friends and hurt enemies. She took $400 million dollars for a bridge that is not going to be built. This is what we know.

Just as disturbing as her lack of knowledge about things outside of Alaska are her statements about women's issues. Besides telling Katie Couric that she believed that a 15 year old girl, raped and impregnated by her father, should be "counseled to choose life" and that while she did not "necessarily" think that the "morning after pill" should be illegal, she did indicate a personal belief that it was wrong as she believes life begins at conception. And then there is an issue that has been making its round on political blogs for weeks, and is now being picked up mainstream: that while Mayor of Wasilla, a small town in Alaska which boasts the highest number of rapes per population than ANY OTHER STATE, rape victims had to pay their own rape kit/exam fees (which is UNBELIEVABLE-someone breaks into your house and no one asks you to pay law enforcement to dust for fingerprints), a policy only changed when, after Ms. Palin was no longer Mayor, a law was passed by the then-governor outlawing such practices (and in part, to enable to state to receive federal funds, as a result of the Violence Against Women Act authored by Joe Biden in the 90's). Read on as she recently avoids admitting that she did nothing to change this shameful practice:

Q: During your tenure as mayor in 2000, then police chief Charlie Fannon commented in a May 23, 2000 Frontiersman article about legislation Gov. Tony Knowles signed protecting victims of sexual assault from being billed for rape kits collected by police as part of their investigations. Fannon revealed then that Knowles’ decision would cost Wasilla $5,000 to $14,000 a year, insinuating that the department’s policy was to bill victims for this testing. During your tenure as Mayor, what was the police department and city’s standard operating procedure in recovering costs of rape kits? Were any sexual assault victims ever charged for this testing while you were mayor?
A: The entire notion of making a victim of a crime pay for anything is crazy. I do not believe, nor have I ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test. As governor, I worked in a variety of ways to tackle the problem of sexual assault and rape, including making domestic violence a priority of my administration.

So while she doesn't condone it, she still allowed it to happen right under her nose. And, no one has shown one thing she did during her time as Governor so far to "tackle" rape or domestic violence-not ONE THING-despite saying it was a priority.

?????

This is not excellence. It is not even justifiable. As Barack Obama said in his DNC speech last month-America is better than these last 8 years.

We must expect excellence in our leaders. People make mistakes, of course. But we must begin to hold our leaders to a higher standard, if our country is going to in fact become better than we have been under the failed leadership of GWB. Time for CHANGE!

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/why-is-sarah-palin-using-hedge-words.html
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/30/palin-rape/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/30/eveningnews/main4490788.shtml