Working out the Kinks

Life is full of small bumps and large diversions. And today I hope to smooth out a few more...I can hope at least!

Pigs, schmigs...lipstick, schmipstick

So, my enthusiasm for Sarah Palin's entrance to the presidential race has left me with some sour grapes of late. This whole stupidity of pit bulls, pigs and lipstick? Both sides need to let it go and tell me what they are gonna do.

Which brings me to my real post: I am voting for John McCain as president over Barack Obama. I am not voting for Sarah Palin as president over Barack Obama. I am voting for her as John McCain's running mate.

Here is what I believe and know:

1) Sarah Palin is inexperienced. So is Barack Obama. Sarah Palin has served as a mayor of a small town and less than two years as Alaska's governor. She has no foreign policy experience. Living in a state that borders Canada and a "water border" with Russia doesn't make her an expert on either. And she while she has an idea of what Americans at large want, she cannot make the rookie mistake of seeing us as being all the same. That being said...

2) Vice President is a damn good way for her to get this experience she lacks. With John McCain's guidance, she will be able to weather those first few forays and she will, in time, be able to take over the reigns if something happens to McCain as president.

3) As Bill O'Reilly said, McCain needs to make people like Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Rommney, Mike Huckabee and others cabinet members or at the very least, important advisors. This will give Sarah Palin a wide range of sounding board to make sure she is taking all necessary precautions in uncharted waters for her.

4) Having a child with downs syndrome does not disqualify her for the job. As she herself has said, sometimes she has to put down the BlackBerry and pick up the breast pump, that is true of any mother anywhere. And let's be honest, that adorable little Trig will be hard to resist sometimes! I think that he will be a wonderful soft spot she can land when life becomes cut throat and harder than she could ever imagine in Washington.

5) I don't just want hope, I want action. I want someone like Senator McCain who has proven he will fight for what is right. I think that Governor Palin is also that type of person. I hope that she will learn from him over the next eight years and become our first female president (after she's had the training!).

But I guess the real point is I am voting in the next man that I want for president, the fact that a woman is his running mate, purely coincidence.