Palin - Makes Bush Look Prepared

Well, if you watched the tapes, read the transcripts, unless you work for Fox News there's no way to avoid the obvious - Sarah Palin isn't even close to being prepared to be President.

Obviously, she knew nothing about the centerpiece of Republican foreign policy - The Bush Doctrine. To try to excuse her ignorance by saying 'most people couldn't define the Bush doctrine' is a false argument. Most people aren't running for President or VP. Let's keep in mind, she actually could be President as quickly as 4 months from now. Four months. And she doesn't know what has been the central doctrine of our foreign policy for the last 7 years?

And on the Georgia question, what was her first answer? We could go to war with Russia.

With Russia? Things have been so easy for US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan - why, I'm sure a war with Russia would be a piece of cake.

Then she backpedalled on that and said, maybe we could use 'economic sanctions'. Forget for a moment the fact that Republicans have been uniformly against economic sanctions - did Palin forget that Bush et al scoffed at the notion of economic sanctions vs. Iraq? - but to make that statement shows a great deal of ignornace about the state of our trade with Russia.

To begin with, for the first 6 months of 2008 Russia had a trade surplus of 53.6%, or $70 billion. Their imports from the US per year total just over $9 billion. Do the math Sarah. If they have a $70 billion dollar surplus for 6 months, $140 for the year, and our imports total $9 that's .06% of their surplus. Wow, Sarah, what a threat that is! So assuming we could impose sanctions, it's hard to see how they'd make much of an impact on Russia.

And let's look at who would really suffer. The bulk of our exports to Russia, 65%, are cars and engineering products - which are easily replaceable by Russia. But if we stopped selling to them, that would seriously affect US car workers.

And what about our imports from Russia? Oil - 28%, Aluminum - 17%, iron and stell - 15%, etc. Items of strategic importance.

The US has far more to lose from economic sanctions with Russia than Russia does. What Russia imports from the US is replaceable, for the most part. What we import from Russia is essential.

Before she starts shooting off her mouth about war and economic sanctions, maybe it would make sense for Sarah to have a basic knowledge base to work from.

I have been a primary caretaker for my kids. I've been a soccer and baseball Dad. I've been active in the PTA. I've run a non-profit. I have a mensa level IQ. And I am in no way qualified to be president or vice president. Yet the Republicans are seriously asking me to vote for someone who is even less qualified than I am?

What comes across in her interview is the picture of a person who has a certain degree of superficial cleverness, who can think on her feet and knows when to backpedal, but who obviously has spent little time reading newspapers and magazines, following international - or even domestic - issues and trends. Someone who just did not bother to keep up with what was going on in her country or the world.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to spend your life shooting moose and snowmobiling and taking advantage of the natural wonders in the place where you live. That's a nice lifestyle. And it might make her a nice Mayor or Governor for a state that has a smaller population than metroplitan Raleigh, NC. But ignorance of the rest of the world is not a qualification for the presidency.