Gov. Sarah Palin - Experience Needed?

Gov. Sarah Palin is clearly well-liked by the people of Alaska because she has an 80+ percent favorable rating. But does she have adminstrative and foreign policy experience? Clearly, Gov. Palin is a very competent administrator, with more leadership experience than Barack Obama and Joe Biden put together. Here's an abbreviated list of past and current leadership duties of Gov. Sarah Palin:

• Managing the extensive resources of State and City personnel and offices
  
• Appointing qualified people to carry out the laws and direct the policies of Alaskan city and state government
• Conducting public relations campaigns to manage and market Alaskan resources
  
• Evaluating and signing (or vetoing) bills passed by Alaska legislators
  
• Serving as the commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard
• Preparing and delivering reports on Alaska to the Legislature and to other interested parties
  
• Estimating the amounts of money required to be raised by taxation, preparing and recommending City and State budgets, and holding firm to her goal of financial balancing of income and expenses
• Assuring the Alaskan people of honesty and ethics in State government
  

A comparative list of experience and achievements between Palin and Obama is given here. Moreover, I don't worry about whether Vice-president Sarah Palin has a lot of experience in foreign policy, because all administrators of complex institutions rely on knowledgeable advisors and consultants. U.S. foreign policy decisions always are preceeded by well-studied proposed policy documents, followed by meetings with key advisors whose differing perspectives create the necessary background for a final decision by the President. [One of my distant cousins is one of those policy advisors, in that some of his documents dealing with the Middle East have made it to the desk of the President.]

Gov. Sarah Palin already is quite knowledgeable about China and other PAC-RIM countries that buy the majority of Alaskan products. She also is highly concerned about new Russian interests and impacts, including near the North Pole. Alaska has recently been impacted by unauthorized Russian flights that intrude into U.S. airspace.

My personal belief is that McCain's four-time bout with melanoma eventually will become a five-time bout and he will not survive his complete term. That would put Gov. Sarah Palin into the White House. Here's what our oldest son wrote about Gov. Sarah Palin:

"She appears to be the most 'likable' of the four major Pres/Vice Pres candidates. This may have been a stroke of genius on the part of McCain, time will tell. The democrats' reaction strikes me as confused and ridiculous so far. I don't think they were ready. She is not the type of person you can attack head-on and walk away looking very good. I'm feeling better about the Republican ticket's chances in November already. Looking toward the future, I'd give her a greater possiblity of being President of the United States someday than Hillary."

Vice-president Sarah Palin will need to select good advisors, just as President Reagan did in the 1980's. For starters, I'd recommend Pat Buchanan who seems to have some of the best insights on foreign policy, including Russian, Chinese, and Middle East problems.