Pundits are still being polite but I don't feel such restraint.
In her speech, Governor Sarah Palin pays tribute to Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton's 18 million cracks in the ceiling. Palin is pro-life. That's going to turn off many of the Hillary supporters.
Sarah Palin's role as a mother of five with a newborn in tow held in the background of her oldest daughter (with down syndrome) the pundits believe will gain the support of the soccer moms in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Perhaps, initially. But when the soccer moms in those state aren't getting the healthcare they need to take care of those children. When their husbands aren't earning minimum wage and learn that Sarah Palin voted against minimum wage increases that is not going to help. And there's got to be at least one other working mother like me who has far fewer than 5 children wondering what are those young children going to give up in care and attention with a mother running for Vice President aside from the unlimited assistance of nannies, tutors and healthcare that those moms in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania would only dream of.
Let's talk about her example as a mom. She is a 44 year old woman who is pro-life and gave birth to a down syndrome baby. We assume she had an amnio and made a conscience choice to have a child with down syndrome. It begs questions about access to resources. It begs questions about choice and access for women who are not married into corporate oil and wealth in this country. There's an every increasing crisis with families growing older having to go bankrupt in order to care for children who will never be able to be independent nor enough legacies of finances and good advice for Special Needs families the ability to leave estates to siblings. Many of those families struck with children with the ever increasing epidemic of autism in this country have nowhere to turn and no finances to provide the best resources for that child. And the public schools are way under qualified to handle it. That older sister holding her newborn down syndrome baby brother may have just been handed a legacy of care taking after her parents pass away. At least if her mother becomes vice president some resources may be left to handle that situation. She now has the ethical responsibility of providing not just a national discussion about Special Needs families and estate planning but what she will provide parents who are bankrupt due to healthcare costs if they have any at all and minimum wage parents in the same position.
Experience? She has been a mayor of a city of Wasilla, AK - 9,000 people. Governor of Alaska (672,000) less than the population of Cleveland. I've spent 6 months living in Alaska. This is not a state that has the same issues of big cities. Its a beautiful tough place with a population personality that resembles the rugged frontiersman of the western expansion of the lower 48 during the gold rush. So hunting and gun toting means something else there. But doesn't prepare a person for the inner-city, racial, socio-economic issues of downtown LA and New York City. They are completely different cultures from Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit.
Some pundit on MSNBC applauded her for being the first time we've had a choice of someone with energy corporate experience from an energy rich state. Then what was Cheney and Haliburton. Please. The population of Alaska living off the pipeline and choosing someone who supports furthering the greed through ANWAR is like praising a heroin addict for being agile with an injection needle.
Lets talk plainly. McCain turned 72 today and had 2 battles with cancer. Is this woman ready to run the country? This is not a woman with experience up to handling major executive, economic and foreign relations.
McCain's choice in Sarah Palin shows desperation to diffuse the energy and momentum behind Obama and the powerful position he and Joe Biden have laid out. The sense of community responsibility. The Palin position is more denial that they believe America's not broken, so why fix it. Any Hillary supporters swayed by this are putting personalities over principals.
