Say Anything Blog

According to Michael Kinsley, who manages to invoke both Hitler and Stalin while making his point, Republicans are a bunch of hypocrites for criticizing Barack Obama’s level of foreign policy experience and then supporting Sarah Palin who has little foreign policy experience.

It seems like only yesterday that the Republican Party was complaining about Barack Obama’s lack of foreign policy “experience.” (As a matter of fact, when I started writing this, it actually was yesterday.) Even now, the Republican National Committee’s main anti-Obama Web site has the witty address http://www.notready08.com. The contrast in experience, especially foreign policy experience, between John McCain and Obama was supposed to be the central focus of McCain’s campaign.

But that’s so five minutes ago, before Sarah Palin. Already, conservative pundits have come up with creative explanations for McCain’s choice of a vice presidential running mate with essentially no foreign policy experience. First prize (so far) goes to Michael Barone, who notes on the U.S. News and World Report blog that “Alaska is the only state with a border with Russia. And it is the only state with territory, in the Aleutian Islands, occupied by the enemy in World War II.” I think we need to know what Sarah Palin has done, in her year and change as governor of Alaska, to protect the freedom of the Aleutian Islands before deciding how many foreign policy experience credits she deserves on their account.

Personally, I think it’s rather funny how liberals are parsing the experience issue.

I’ll readily admit it’s true that Palin has very little foreign policy experience.  But I’d also point out that she doesn’t have any less experience than Barack Obama.  Plus, Republicans nominated a Presidential candidate with plenty of foreign policy experience in John McCain.  The liberals nominated a candidate with almost no foreign policy experience.  Those are two very different scenarios.  Further, let’s remember that if we broaden the scope of debate to include domestic policy experience Palin’s list of accomplishments makes Obama’s look trivial.

But going back to foreign policy experience, it’s true that most governors who enter Presidential politics come on stage without a lot of foreign policy experience.  After all, as a governor, you aren’t exactly out negotiating treaties with other countries.  That hasn’t stopped America from electing George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter all of whom were governors before becoming President.