CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– POLITICS
Sept. 1, 2008 – 9:07 p.m.
Republicans Relish Pitting Palin vs. Obama on Experience
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff
For all of the political comparisons Sarah Palin will inevitably draw, from New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to former Tennessee Rep. Davy Crockett, there is one Republicans are hoping will stick: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama .
If they can turn the debate to a comparison of the resumes, records and talents of Obama and Palin — a No. 1 vs. No. 2 argument — their presidential nominee, John McCain , will come out ahead of both, they appear to believe. If it works, the device would elevate Palin’s stature, lower Obama’s and leave McCain’s unchanged.
“The choice is Obama vs. Palin, and she has done things rather than talk about things,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham , a close McCain confidante. “Compared to Barack Obama , she is ready to be president of the United States by a country mile.
Never mind that most voters had never heard of Palin, the rookie governor of Alaska, when she was named to McCain’s ticket last Friday. Nor do Republicans seem to be worried that many of their top elected officials have never met her.
Indeed, Republicans say they welcome a discussion of experience in the presidential debate.
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“Any effort to attack Palin on experience raises the comparision with Obama, and she’s had more experience in the real world doing real things than Obama,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said.
Republicans have taken to pointing out that Palin’s 21 months in the governor’s office and previous tenure as mayor of Wasilla, her small hometown, represent more executive experience than Obama and his running mate, longtime Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. , have together. Some add in McCain to the Senate crew for effect.
“She has far more executive experience and has been forced to balance budgets, cut projects, address corruption in an executive fashion that neither Sen. Obama nor Sen. Biden has ever done,” McCain policy director Doug Holtz-Eakin said at a lunch with reporters. “She will obviously gain experience between now and the election, and will reveal herself to be perfectly capable of doing this job. It’s common for governors to run for president and I think a standard part of that dialogue is: Is this person ready for the national stage? And in the past, we’ve decided yes. And we will again decide that with Gov. Palin.”
But pollster, political analyst and Republican Frank Luntz, the author of Words that Work, said that just pairing Obama and Palin in debate isn’t likely to net the presidency for McCain.
“They have to demonstrate that she is not just qualified and capable but intellectually and emotionally prepared to be president,” Luntz said. “She’s on her way, but she’s not there yet.”
Richard Rubin contributed to this story
Comments
Ha ha ha Palin Vs Obama? This woman has never been abroad, never met any foreign leader There are so many female republicans who are more qualified than her She is under federal invesigation. She may be in prison before she gets a chance to go to the white house
Under federal investigation? Really? No, she is not. If anything the cloud is over Obama due to Rezko. Do youknow she has never been abroad? I would like toknow youur source for that.
How about the fact that she didn't have a passport until 2007? That, I would think, is a fairly vivid indication of the scope of her experience outside of Alaska and the United States. It's just so delusional for the GOP to claim that her 21 months as Governor and her service of the mayor of her Anchorage suburb -- Anchorage has suburbs? -- adds up to an experience advantage over Obama.
Obama, 47, has spent almost 12 years in office, all of it as a lawmaker - eight years as an Illinois state senator and nearly four as a U.S. senator. Palin's total is 12 - she spent 10 as a city council member and mayor, and nearly two as governor. Former Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Sunday on CNN. ""It's not the woman issue at all. There are a lot of other Republican women who could have filled this role if that is what he was looking for- such as Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell." Sarah Palin has a degree in Journalism from the Univ. of Idaho, minor in Polictial Science. That's it folks.
The beauty for Democrats is that they don't have to attack Palin's inexperience in order to win the election, while it makes Republican attacks on Obama's inexperience - to date their only winning issue - ring hollow. Meanwhile, it highlights McCain's poor judgement, one of the Democrats' winning issues. From the Democratic standpoint, the Palin choice is like trading a pawn for a queen.
Bill, to put things to rest she got her first passport in 2007 so as Gov. could go to Iraq and visit the Alaskan National Guard. That would be the extent in travel outside the US. She is not worldly by any means what so ever. She is in the position she is in right now because of two reasons 1) Woman 2) Christian Conservative, Family Values, Average family stuff Thats it... and the rest that will be coming out on her soon is going to provide some heavy contrast.
She did visit the Alaskan National Guard troops in Kuwait northshorejournal.org . She also went to Germany to visit wounded troops, unlike BO.
Never been abroad? I just saw a video clip of her in Iraq, support the Alaskan members of the National Guard.
McCain has changed so much over the last 8 years. He was my candidate of choice 8 years ago. The man has aged and his thinking has changed as well. Nothing wrong with this, just the evolution of human brain development into the senior years. Lately, over the last few years he has adopted and supported many of Bush's policies, which I am puzzling. McCain is also my senator from Arizona, whom I admired. Recently, I sat down and reviewed the national and international issues McCain supported and realized they don't make sense. When I heard Obama speech on TV from the Democratic Convention, I realized Obama policies do make sense. Although I don't agree with his pro-abortion belief; however, when he picked his VP Joe Bidden. I certainly agreed he made a right choice. Joe Bidden is pro-life and I like that... On the other hand, McCain whom was my favorite 8 years ago has gone haywired, picking Palin as his VP. First, she has a down syndrome child whom needed her utmost attention as a mother, yet, she has sold her soul and family to be in politics. Secondly, she has never involved with national or international issues. Newt Gingrich is an idiot when he claims Palin has more experiences than Obama. Palin is not even on the same level with Obama. How do you compare apple to orange? It is so sad that the Republican has gone off the map? I voted for Reagan and Bush in the past. I am neither a Democrat or Republican. This article has insulted my intelligence with some of the claims the Republican made in this article. Go Obama-Bidden 2008 !!!
Um... Yes, she has been abroad. She visited the troops in Kuwait. And yes, she has more experience than Obama. Meeting foreign leaders makes you qualified? That's an odd thought. In any case, from some of the responses I've seen (even from Republicans), it seems that sexism may be a bigger problem than racism in politics. By the way, what made Bill Clinton so qualified when he was elected after being governor of Arkansas? How about Jimmy Carter, who had been governor of Georgia? And Gov. Tim Keane was widely considered a great choice for Obama's running mate. He was mayor of a small town and then governor for two years -- just like Palin.
Palin is being chosen as the running mate without having first gone through the rigors of a campaign where voters had a chance to accept or reject her for herself. Carter and Clinton - and Obama - ran for the Presidency, and were identified by their party's voters and delegates - after long, grueling contests - to be the best their party had to offer. Palin's lack of experience and our lack of familiarity with her have only been subject to a long weekend so far. She is an inadequate choice because we will not be able to judge her in her own context, on her own merits for possibly becoming our President- and we lack any other history of her (no Conngressional record, for example). She is limited in her experience. She does represent a small state, which is far from the rest of the mainland US, and is unique in its issues and concerns. Governors Pawlenty and Crist offered far more experience, from more significant states. Jimmy Carter was a legislative leader in Georgia and served a full 4-year term as Governor of a major Southern state before running for President. Bill Clinton was a multi-term Governor of a smaller state, when his party's voters chose him the best candidate in 1992. Had Palin survived re-election as Governor and had 6 years in office like Pawlenty vs 20 months, had she been a state legislator for two terms like Obama, had she been serving in the US Senate like Lisa Murkowski, she might bring more gravitas to the ticket than she does.
Nice executive experience. She was mayor of a city with a population under 80k, and Governor of a state with a smaller population than Chicago by a factor of four.
Yeah ... she is under investigation (although not federal) for abuse of power! Don't you read the frakin' news?? http://www.ktva.com/ci_10339580?source=most_emailed You want to compare experience? She has ALMOST 2 years as governor of the 47th largest state; Obama has 12 years of state/federal elected office. He has been vetted and chosen by the American people; she has not. He has tremendous experience in organizing, just look at how disciplined his campaign has been and the fact that he beat HRC. He also has a background in community organization ... so yea, he HAS run things: http://news.yahoo.com/story//ap/20080829/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_veepstakes_analysis As for traveling overseas, the only place she's been is Canada: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/2/03821/16086 Of course, the expert Cindy McCain thinks she should be considered a foreign policy expert on par with Biden, b/c, well, you know, Alaska is close to Russia, so she should know something about it. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/31/cindy-palin-russia/ Geez. I can't believe you guys are even defending her!!! Talk about towing the party line!! And this is the most absurd, most clear case of Affirmative Action I have ever seen ... and not even really legit AA b/c she is fundamentally unqualified. Get over it already!
The experience comparison doesn't fly...she helped balance her town budget by hiring lobbyists to bring pork from Washington (something she publiicly decries) and relying, to her great benefit, on oil largesse; her budget isn't half as large as the Obama for President budget which has been administered masterfully by candidate BHO. She touts her location vis a vis Russia as "foreign policy" experience (laughable!) yet she's never travelled outside the country. I doubt even now she could attact 2000 Europeans on any street corner in London or Paris and she'd have no cred calling on heads of state to discuss matters of national security; she's not engaged in the give and take of arms controls and weapons depletion and cannot point to any leading legislator, such as Republikcan Richard Lugar, as a partner on any significant legislation; her labor negotiations are mired in a state-wide investigation of malfeasance and invasions to rights of privacy and her record on public safety has been squandered by controversial firings and golden parachute severances...she hasn't been vetted privately (as we'll soon discover) nor publicly in any serious campaign or debate setting and there's no indication she's even been curious about a wide variety of public issues. While she's a compelling story and a media curiosity, there's no doubt that McCain has found this right-wing Barbie Doll as a way of mollifying the Republican base. It's a bold and risky strategy--imposed by the radical right-- and I don't think it will work..her experience is deficient and she's as unqualified as anyone who's ever been nominated for that office.
Well there was one lonely trip to Kuwait to visit Alaska National Guard troops and she finally had to get a passport for that. McCain has got to be the best comedian around.....who could have dreamed up this selection.
If the GOP thinks that 4 years as mayor of a town of 8000, plus 20 months as governor of one of the smallest states in the Union, is favorabily comparable to 8 years in the Illinois legislature, 4 in the Senate, a seat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and vetting by 36 million voters of a period of two years, then they are sadly mistaken. Only the GOP partisans will swallow that line of BS. A kid running a lemonade stand has executive experience, but I don't want them in the Oval Office. And look at what she's done with her executive experience. Both as Mayor or Wasilla and as governor, any time people disagreed with her, she just fired them and replaced them with more agreeable people. Does this sound like someone who is going to be able to navigate the ins and outs of Washington? What's she going to do the first time she figures out that she can't just fire the entire Senate and replace them?
I am a Conservative Republican who was 100% in support of Sen. McCain until he made the decision to have Sarah Palin be his running mate. I do know more about Gov. Palin than most americans do even before she was Governor. I was impressed with her performance during the Alsaka Governor's Debate but I have to say that I was shocked and disturbed when it was announced that she would be the Vice Presidential Nominee. I am very suspicious of this decision and and why John McCain passed over some of the most qualified Republican Office holders for this woman. I also don't think it would be wise for the GOP to compare her experience with Sen. Obama's experience. Sure, she certainly has more executive experience, but lacks the foreign policy experience of Sen. Obama, Sen. Biden, and Sen. McCain. She has not run in a national election before and has certainly not faced the scrutiny that Barack Obama has faced, but I look forward to her speech at the convention on Wednesday night.
Not under Federal investigation, she's under investigation by the State-- which she openly supports for transparency. She has a lot of international experience, but not the type that East Coasters know about. Alaska is the only state representing the US as a member of the Arctic states-- Palin is the lead on many Arctic issues involving countries like Canada and Russia. Not to mention our first line of defense against some countries like North Korea.
This is exactly wht I said would happen, but you ppl in the media have forgotten Pal-who? is running for VP compare her experience to Joe Biden and compare Obama's to McStupid......why are you ppl in the media doing this? But really, in the end it will not matter....that women does not support over 70% of the views of women in America and we are not interested in going backwards.....and on top of that, in case ayone ever thought aabout it.....Bigger forces are at work here and universal law is always, always, always. forward!! BUZZARD'S KORNER OBAMA/BIDEN08/12 SOUND JUDGEMENT!
This is just ridiculous. People need to get over the sexism crap. I am a woman and I still think she doesn't have the experience to be the VP of the US. I mean what if something would happen to McCain, do you really want someone running the country with no experience other than killing moose in Alaska. Obama is the way to go. The news organizations have only begun to dig up her past and there is plenty more there. I think McCain's people need to start doing there homework, after all McCain is only applying for the most important job in the world.
The bottom line here, is she is running for V.P. not POTUS. Obama, has never been in charge of anything. She has ran a state, making decisions, everyday, (ie) balancing budjets, passing laws, starting programs, What the Hell has Obama done? OH! WAIT I Know, his friend Rezko, helped him get a real good deal, on some property, he got his wife, a well-paid job. OH! and last but not least, he stole the election, from the better candidate, so you see none of the above is really going to matter, the only thing that will matter, is how many Democrats, will not vote for The Chosen One. And where I live , there is a whole lot of pissed-off people who will not vote for a man whose ego is bigger than his head.
The experience question as it pertains to both Senator Obama and Governor Palin raises some interesting points about our prejudices and perceptions. While both Senators McCain and Biden are eminent Senators, nobody questions their experience bona fides. Yet their Senate careers have been in an age when the Senate has been reduced to, in the words of former Senator Adlai Stevenson III a wind chamber, in which meaningless debates are staged. Both Obama and Palin have faced and overcome high hurdles placed in their career trajectories on account of their race and gender. The experience, tenacity and most importantly the ability of these two accomplished people should not be questioned. We should celebrate the resiliency and resourcefulness of the political system that has offered us these candidates for our highest offices.
Obama passed sweeping ethics reform, in both the state and US Senates. Pain is under investigation for trying to get her x-brother in law fired. Obama passes legislation on nuclear disarmament, and works toward energy independence. Palin supports the Alaskan Independence Party, which wants to secede from the US, with Alaska privatizing the oil. Palin fights against protecting the polar bears, and ignores US Geological Surveys, Bush doctors EPA reports. I'm surprised that the Republians really want to make this comparison.
We've got to stop framing the debate in this way. This election is not between Obama and Palin. Obama is not running against Palin!! Let's be focussed on what the real issues are!!
You can't have it both ways. She has more experience then whats his name and she is only going for vp he is trying to become president. For you idiots that just don't get it president is the higher of the two, thus should be the more experienced one.
The Democrats do NOT get it! By charging that Governor Palin is not qualified to be VP, they automatically indict Obama who is less qualified than Palin. Yet, Obama is at the top of the Democratic Ticket. What hypocrisy!
Give me a break. The selection of Sarah Palin shows that John McCain is not the person for the job. You have to question the vetting process, given the facts that have already come to light. You'd also have to question the fact that McCain knew Palin's 17-year-old daughter was pregnant, signaling that he intends to use that as a political football. The fact is, she preaches abstenence and opposes sex education. The result of such policy is exactly what she has in her own home - unplanned teen pregnancies. The hyprocisy is with the GOP claiming that Palin is qualified for ANYTHING. Having served in the U.S. Senate, Obama has proven enough qualification. We elected a governor of Texas and look at the mess he has us in. Do we want four more years of that? I should hope not.
REPUBS SCREWED UP WITH PALIN, PALIN = Wrong choice! Why didnt ROmney get the nod!? or Ridge? McCain is just ridiculous...
I'd rather have a VP candidate who may not be ready to be president on Day One than a presidential candidate who isn't!!!
None of us have served as a governor of a state or Senator, so I feel a lot of these arguments are subjective. As a Senator you are not only looking out for the welfare of your state but for the country, and as a Governor there rests a lot of internal responsibility, organizing and advocacy on behalf of you state. As a Obama Supporter, for me it cames down to the policies, the research, their character and the truth. When I watch several factories and plants close throughout my state, witness a war w/out a cause, watch my veteran mother struggle to get the health care she so desperately needs, watch our ever increasing debt to china grow more and more and worry about how I am going to pay for college. I say I'm done. People are truly scared for the future of the country and the way it was for before certainly didn't make this country better. I want some one who will balance out (and not necessarily erase) the damage the Bush Administration has done for 8 years.
I've been pretty non-partisan for most of the 36 years that I've been voting. But, what has happened to the Republican Party? The fact that Republicans are actually excitedly trumpeting Palin's experience on the Wasilla City Council, and as Wasilla Mayor, as the type of experience they value in someone for President is unbelievable! I even heard Tucker Bounds on CNN talk about her PTA experience!!! And this is after eight years of G.W. Bush!!! This really is the beginning of the destruction of the Republican Party of today. It will take the Party a long, long, time to recover from this.
Rev.-Wright loving Barack Hussein Osama is 100% hot air, no executive experience, and no achievements. I'd rather have Gov. Palin as President over that self-aggrandizing, arrogant left-wing extremist waste of space. The only thing Barack has ever run is his mouth. He would have no clue what to do as President. If we elect him then we're a nation of idiots. Every time he opens his mouth he says something stupid and naive. And, if he was really about "change" then why did he tap Biden who's stagnant fixture of non-change? Obama is totally unfit to lead.
I am tired of hearing about her Daughter. No democrat has said a thing about it because they simply dont care. However, if Barack Obama had a daughter old enough to become pregnant and she did these same evangicals that are up in arms about Sarah Palin would be calling for Obamas head. She has not been in office a long time, but never the less she has some major ethical problems. She had a dispute with the Police of chief that she admittedly fired for political reasons. She then had to face a lawsuit over this. Then when she had a dispute with the librarian, she even sacked the librarian. Firing qualified government employes for political reasons is just too much like Alberto Gonzales to be vice president of the united states.
Give me a break. What next? selling lake front condo in the Mojave desert? Haven't we have enough of lies from Bush? If the American public can believe such fabrication about Paulin, then they deserve the bad 8 years we had!!
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