When making a rational and objective examination of the credentials and experience of Gov. Sarah Palin to hold the position of Vice President, the context says it all. Her experience may be objectively judged in terms of what her job actually entailed and whether such experience could objectively be said to prepare a person to step into the job of President at a moment’s notice. We must remember that John McCain is 72 years old and has had significant health issues. As a result, the risk is that he may become incapacitated even if a health crisis is not fatal. In such situations, the Vice President must step in and take the reins of government. Often, there is a power struggle between the sitting Vice President and strong willed Cabinet officials, as occurred in the case of Gen. Alexander Haig. While any person under the stress of the Presidency may be subject to incapacitation, it is certainly valid to look a bit more closely at the GOP ticket where the risk factors are higher. Any competent physician would consider McCain a greater health risk than Obama would be. Departing from name calling and schoolyard bullying tactics, let’s just examine the facts, positions and context.
Palin claims that her experience handling the responsibilities of mayor has prepared her for the Vice President position. The town she governed as mayor had a population at the time of about 5,500 persons, about the size of a medium-sized private college or a small university. The town had a budget of $6 million and 53 employees. This writer has held the position of Chair of the Board of Directors [elected] for a school district with twice as many students as Wasilla and with at least 4 times as many employees. Yet this writer also would not hesitate to disclaim such experience as qualification the job and tremendous responsibilities of Vice President.
In fact, the documented record is even less charitable to Palin. Her responsibilities as mayor of a very small town limited her exposure to or appreciation of the complex issues that even a mayor of a large city would comprehend. In Wasilla, for example, management of responsibilities for firefighting and schools are handled by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the regional government for central Alaska where Wasilla is located. In addition, state jurisdiction over social services and environmental regulations such as storm water management for building projects further limits the scope of executive responsibilities of the mayor. The full extent of Palin’s responsibilities as mayor included overseeing a small police department, the public works department, the parks and recreation department, a planning office, a library and a small history museum. Add to these limited duties the fact that Palin hired a City manager to take on the responsibilities of day to day management of Wasilla affairs.
Palin has been governor of a state that has a total population smaller than some of the larger cities in the US. She has held that position for less than two years. Both at the city and state level, Palin has not had to deal with any complex issues of tax policy due to the tremendous oil and natural gas based revenue that has virtually eliminated property taxes and sales taxes.
Contemporaries who are inclined to speak well of Palin acknowledge that they were shocked to hear that Sarah Palin was actually chosen as a running mate for McCain. They noted her charisma, public speaking ability and obvious political ambition. Yet they also commented that the opportunity came along before Palin was properly prepared and experienced to justify or handle it.
Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of the contextual analysis is the factor of one being completely unaware of what they do not know. Dianne Keller, the current mayor of Wasilla, who believes Palin qualified for the job of Vice President, actually stated the following: "Executive experience is executive experience. Whether you are a mayor or a governor or an executive at a company, the duties and responsibilities are the same." This level of oblivious confidence based upon clearly false assumptions says a great deal about the conviction with which the GOP ticket claims that Palin is “qualified” to be next in line as President of the United States.
If Palin has no better understanding of the scope of responsibilities of a chief executive than to believe that her meager experience is equal to that of a CEO of a business that has a multi-trillion dollar budget and more than a million employees, it is extremely scary to envision her actually holding the position and discovering, after the fact, that the actual job is magnitudes of difference greater than she ever imagined.
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