With the pick of Sarah Palin as VP I think the first talking point from the left will be that Palin is just as inexperienced as Obama.  After all, just three years ago Palin was just a mayor of a small town in Alaska called Wasilla (which is, as it turns out, my childhood home).  She’s only been a governor since 2006, two years less than Obama’s been a Senator.

So does that mean Palin suffers from a lack of experience just like Obama?

Well, for one thing, Palin isn’t a candidate for President.  John McCain is.  The experience gap doesn’t matter as much when we’re talking about the second tier on the ticket.

For another, the criticism of Obama’s inexperience lays with his lack of accomplishment.  Palin doesn’t suffer from the same problem.  Despite being heavily outspent by Democrat Tony Knowles, Palin won the Governorship of Alaska to become not only the first woman governor of that state but also the youngest governor of the state ever.  During her two years in Juneau, she has successfully passed ethics reform, axed pork barrel spending (even when it came from members of her own political party) and has opposed federal earmarks for Alaska.

She also pushed through the building of a trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline (the Alaska Gasoline Inducement Act) which, you can ask anyone in Alaska, has been a thirty year battle.  She filed a lawsuit against environmentalists trying to hold up oil production by classifying polar bears as endangered.  In the first state budget passed under her leadership she trimmed $237,000,000 in spending.

And, finally, (and this may be the best evidence we have of the quality of her character) she has supported a Republican challenger to under-indictment Republican Senator Ted Stevens.  That’s right.  When a Republican in her own party was revealed as being corrupt, and not adhering to the values of Republicanism, she sought to get him unelected.

Frankly, I think Palin has accomplished more in just her two years as Governor than Obama has his whole life.

Watching Palin stand next to McCain today and delivering a fiery speech to citizens in Ohio I’ve got to admit that I’m actually excited about the McCain ticket for the first time this year.  I still think John McCain was an awful pick to be the GOP candidate, but the choice of Palin for VP was an inspired one that has this disgruntled conservative feeling a little less cynical.