Sarah Palin’s Vice Presidential stock has been consistently rising as of late. In fact, in the latest Intrade she is ranked #4. However, in my discussions with friends regarding her viability as Vice President, two concerns have been paramount. One, is she ready to be President….and two, does she have enough name recognition?
I’ve quickly jotted down some thoughts on both. While I don’t cover every angle as to the whys and why nots of Sarah Palin, this does touch on some of the major concerns.
1) Can she be POTUS?
It’s a tough question. Would I feel comfortable with her taking over on inauguration day? No. But, there are very few candidates that one can really feel comfortable answering ‘yes’ to that question. A couple Governors…perhaps a couple Senators.
Speaking for Palin specifically, while she has served as Governor and accomplished quite a bit, particularly on ethics reform and energy, she admittedly will be a ‘learn on the job’ Vice President, but hey, that’s part of the reason for having the gig in the first place.
What must be acknowledged is that ‘Can she be POTUS’ not be the only question asked when determining who should be VP. Obviously, it’s immensely important, but it isn’t the end all, be all.
2) She’s relatively unknown.
Yep. Definitely true. But, politically speaking, you make your pick based on who won’t hurt you. She definitely won’t. She’s a likeable conservative and while she may be unknown when she’s announced, she won’t be unknown on announcement day +1. In fact, her anonymity could actually be a blessing. Imagine all the ‘Get to Know Sarah Palin’ articles and stories there would be all over the MSM. Politically speaking, she seems to be very gifted and appeals far beyond her conservative base as the recent 80% approval rating confirms.
My concern about her is that I have yet to hear her speak much on foreign policy/WoT, but that can’t be blamed on her…she simply hasn’t had an opportunity to share those feelings with the MSM. If anyone has some background on this, I’d be very interested to read it.
