Finger on the Button

Over the past few days, Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has proven that she's not ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, yet John McCain appointed her to be just that, knowing the risks of his own age and medical record.

In her one and only national interview, she didn't know a fundamental principle of the Bush foreign policy and she spoke recklessly about war with Russia. Earlier she told troops on their way to Iraq that the war there was linked to 9-11, and despite her reinterpretation of her own remarks, she said that the war in Iraq is God's plan.

Shortly before McCain appointed her, Karl Rove said somebody like Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia--who had been mayor of Richmond and Lt. Governor of this populous and complex state as well as Governor--was not qualified to be vice-president because those offices weren't sufficient experience in foreign policy. John McCain himself said in May of this year, " I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time."

Yet now McCain and the Republicans contend that the person who has been the mayor of a remote town with a population that can fit into a gym, and governor for less than two years of a state with a population of a middle-sized city, is ready to be thrust into the responsibility of dealing with crises that could mean war, and in the case of Russia, possibly nuclear war.

Are we really that eager to risk Armageddon? Because that's what it comes down to.

The GOPers have made much of the type of experience VP candidate Palin has had, in being a mayor and governor. GOPer leaders escalated their rhetoric to claim that she is more experienced than Obama, and in fact more experienced than Obama and VP candidate Biden put together.

Really? How many world leaders has she met? How many experts on foreign policy has she studied, grilled, talked with at length over a period of years? How has her knowledge and judgment been tested?

Senator Obama is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (and Joe Biden is its chair.) They have engaged countless experts on every part of the world, giving testimony before that committee. Senator Obama is also a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. Matters affecting national security in real world terms come before these committees. Slogans don't last long when the real world has to be faced.

How many position papers has Palin produced? Are they on her official website for all to see and judge, as they have been for nearly two years on candidate Obama's?

How many foreign policy experts and distinguished generals and admirals have been advising VP candidate Palin for the past two years, as they have been advising Senator Obama as part of his campaign for the presidency? How many former Secretaries of State, respected foreign policy experts, generals and admirals have endorsed her fitness, as they have Barack Obama?

There are two components to the commander-in-chief test: knowledge and judgment. VP candidate Palin does not have the knowledge necessary to be that close to The Button. Her recent interview is the only time that she has spoken about foreign affairs on the national public record, while Obama and Biden have spoken many times on many intricate foreign policy subjects on the record, and have been questioned by the media, by experts and other leaders. But simply on the evidence of this interview, she does not demonstrate either the knowledge or judgment.

Candidate John McCain's judgment has to be called into question for selecting VP candidate Palin. This was John McCain's first presidential decision: to put politics above country in the most extreme and obvious way. It is a decision that endangers America, the world and the future.

Barack Obama's first presidential decision was to choose Senator Joe Biden as his VP candidate--who is an acknowledged expert in foreign affairs, with more than 20 years of intimate experience, as well as being very knowledgeable about a range of domestic issues. No leader in either party can seriously question Biden's qualifications to function as President, should that become necessary.

But this is not the first evidence that McCain's judgment is faulty. He's shown bad judgment on foreign policy issues. He is wrong on Iraq, and was wrong about Iraq from the start--he supported the invasion of Iraq even before Bush made his false case for this war. He is dangerously reckless in his comments on Russia. His temperament has been questioned by leaders in his own party who say he is too hot-headed, and the prospect of McCain with his finger on the button scares them.

Barack Obama was right on Iraq. On his recent trip to Iraq, its president agreed with his policy on a timetable for withdrawing American troops. Obama's other meetings with world leaders on that trip demonstrated not only that he is ready to be a world leader, but that he is a world leader already.

Electing John McCain as President places America in grave danger, because of his judgment and temperament. VP Palin doesn't have the judgment or the knowledge to function as commander in chief. She will be prey to people around her, with no independent knowledge to even question what she's told.
And while some fundamentalists may be quite happy about her views on God's guidance of the Iraq war, or the coming Rapture of the righteous, for most Americans, having an uninformed zealot with a finger over the button is rightly terrifying.

Yet if John McCain is elected, VP Palin would would be a heartbeat away from succeeding a man in his 70s with a history of cancer. This nightmare scenario is not a cheesy TV movie. Unless the American people wake up, it could become a reality.