Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, and Joe Biden

You may have gotten lost in the words of the previous entry.  Let's get concrete.

 

I said Sarah Palin strikes me as better Presidential material than Dick Cheney, and I meant it.  Dick Cheney has been an effective VICE PRESIDENT for President Bush, whatever you think of him, because he has provided what President Bush wanted:  basically a chief of staff--a vice principal.  However, Dick Cheney has never shown any ability to relate to the public at large, or the political skills necessary to implement a policy agenda as the TOP man   That is one reason he was never mentioned as a possible top man--a possible President.  And that health is hardly a good thing in a PRESIDENT, it it?

 

Thus, if a 3 a.m. call came in tomorrow about Russia invading the Ukraine, you might feel a lot more comfortable with Dick Cheney there than Sarah Palin (or Barack "World" Obama)  I darn sure hope you would feel more comfortable with John McCain there than Obama.  But three months from now, I would be more comfortable with Sarah Palin getting that call, with the McCain team advising her, than I would with Dick Cheny.  That is because Sarah Palin has shown, already, qualities that Dick Cheney never had.

 

Plain is not a Washington insider who cut her teeth on the intrigues of power.  She has raised a family in the context of a uniquely American life that taught her things Cheney has given no evidence of ever learning (whether he has or not, people do not perceive he has, and that is the same thing).  Palin has the warmth, ability to relate to people, and ability to inspire people that Cheney has never shown.  You should, correctly, have the sense that Palin would be GROUNDED in the right kind of view of life in America when she receives that 3 a.m. phone call, and the consequences her decisions will have on real people in the U.S. than Cheney ever has had or ever will have--even if Cheney may know more about the nuts and bolts of what is going on.

 

Palin went from may or of a small town to defeating her own party's INCOMUBENT governor.  Then she became possibly THE most popular governor in the U.S. in less than two years.  Is that a lesser leap than going from there to Vice President of the United Staes, and then to President (if necessary).  Objectively, it is not. 

 

Now consider Kay Bailey Hutchinson.  She is a popular Senator from my home state of Texas.  She received some support for Vice President.  Contrary to what you might believe, I was NOT prepared to endorse John McCain for President, despite my correct view of Obama as a truly dangerous man for this country.  Kay Bailey Hutchinson as VP would simply have confirmed my determination to vote for Bob Barr.  That is true even though Kay Bailey Hutchinson is an energy expert herself, and a reliable, moderate conservative.  Why is that?

 

Again, if there were a 3 a.m. phone call tomorrow, I might want Kay Bailey Hutchinson to field it.  I have no real doubt, however, that Sarah Palin will make the better President--not to mention Vice President--at the time she would actually be called up to assume that job.

 

That is because Kay Bailey Hutchinson is an ESTABLISHMENT Republican.  She could never have taken on the establishment, as Sarah Palin did in Alaska.  Worse, it would never have occurred to her.  She has done a decent job, but for there to go higher would illustrate the Peter Principle (people rise to their level of incompetence).  Huchinson is comfortable in the establishment.  She is not going to rock any boats.  She is not especially warm, although there is nothing wrong with her personality.  She is the female equivalent of Joe Biden on the Republican side. 

 

Yes, Sarah Palin WOULD make a better President than Joe Biden, from all indications, at the time either might be called upon.  As with Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Biden is the picture of an establishment Senator unable to go higher.  He got nowhere in two runs for the Presidency.  He has not done anything to approach the meteoric rise of Sarah Palin AGAINST THE ESTABLISHMENT OF HER PARTY.  Her accomplishments as governor, in two years, dwarf the real accomplishments of Joe Biden in the Senate all of those years (yes, they more than dwarf the lack of accomplishment by Obama).  Biden, from a Democratic point of view, has done a decent job in the Senate as a solid, leftist Senator.  He has shown none of the BRILLIANCE of Sarah Palin, and none of the ability to relate to people while CHALLENGING HER OWN PARTY.  What is the main example of Biden standing up to the establishment?  It was in his ridiculous opposition to the first Gulf War.  Despite family ROOTS something like Sarah Palin, he does not have the FAMILY HISTORY of Sarah Palin as she raised 4 children while she and her husband lived a working class existence in commercial fishing and the oil fields.  I am not talking about Biden's personal family life.  I am talking about the EXPERIENCE of lifing a normal family life outside of Washington.  Isn't it amazing how Democrats want to treat a commute home every day, while being in the Senat for 35 years, as more than the equivalent of raising a family in a working class existence outside of Washington--in Alaska, in the case of Sarah palin.  They are NOT the same, and Sarah Palin's life BETTER prepares her to be President, so long as she has the abilitiy.  Her meteoric career shows she has the ability.  Biden's life to this point has prepared him to be Senator, with any higher aspirations an example of the Peter Principle at work.  Palin's life to this point indicates no limitations on her ability--no indication that she has reached the limits of her potential. 

 

McCain's risk is that Palin will show that she is out of her depth, even though she has shown more qualities needed in a really good President than Cheney, Hutchinson or Biden--including more ability to ACCOMPLISH things than Obama.  She did not go to Harvard or talk about helping her fellow man while inserting herself into the leftist political macine in Chicago with people like Reverend Wright and William Ayers as mentors. She saw a need, and actually DID things to help her fellow Alaskans.

 

This is why McCain's selection of Palin immediately caused me to endorse McCain, while a selection of Huthinson would not. As Vice President, Palin and Jindal were, by far, the best choices out there for McCain.  That is because they are the persons who will likely make the BEST Preisdent, if and when called upon--having the qualities out of which GREAT Presidents are made.  That cannot be said of any other Republican out there, including Romney.

 

P.S.  One of those Democratic "talking points" out there is that Plain told Politico.com that she "did not know" what the job of Vice President is. I don't know what the job of Vice President is.  NO ONE knows what the job of Vice President is.  The official functions are to preside over the Senate (which is not routinely done) and wait for the President to die.  That is obviously not a JOB description.  The real "job" of the Vice President is defined by the PRESIDENT, or by the TEAM of the President and the Vice President.  I state flatly:  Anyone who says they KNOW what the job of the Vice President is cannot be qualified to be either Vice President or Presdient of the United States.  Leftists who use THIS absurd talking point (Obama?) beware.  You are merely underlining your own DISQUALIFICATION to ever be Vice President or President of the United States.