I just got finished reading Ace’s post defending the pro-bailout position that he’s taken. I agree with him and I recommend you head over there to give it a read. As a Palin-specific blogger though, I’m wondering a different question about the financial crisis: should a newcomer like Sarah really be the vice president in times like this? The answer is a resounding yes. Click past the jump to read why.
What do Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John McCain, and Sarah Palin all have in common? None of them are intellectually equipped to handle this financial crisis. Times like this are why we have a treasury secretary, why we have economic advisors, and why we have congressional committees and subcommittees filled with experts and people listening to experts about the economy. No one running for the White House right now has the level of economic understanding necessary to guide us through this problem.
So what does Sarah Palin have that the others don’t? For starters, Palin is not entangled in the Washington politics that created this mess. The information I’ve read suggests that Democrats are mostly to blame with what’s going on right now, but not entirely. Bad regulation and corrupt relationships between corporate elites and Washington elites are the fault of both parties work for years to thicken their own wallets and retain more power.
But Sarah Palin is an outsider.
If we’re going to solve this problem we need the common sense of someone who hasn’t been receiving donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or any of the other financial big whigs out there. How honest of a solution do we expect from someone keeping advisors on board who helped cause this mess? Barack Obama wants to point out that John McCain has been in the Senate for years while this happened, but so has Joe Biden. And who was it again that has spent 3 years compiling the second largest record of campaign donations from Fannie and Freddie? Oh yeah, Obama: it’s you.
The next president is going to spend most of his time dealing with this crisis and whether that is the Obama/Biden team or the McCain/Palin team, both of them will be relying on their economic advisors to let them know what they need to do. That being the case, putting someone in the vice presidency who doesn’t have the loyalities to corporate elites or Washington lobbyists is the smartest decision we can make on November 4th. We desperately need some honesty in DC right now, and we won’t be able to get that unless we look outside of the Beltway.
Sarah Palin’s perceived inexperience is the best thing she has going for her right now. I’m doubtful Americans will look at it that way, but Thursday night might change their minds.
palin rules!