Letter to the Chicago Tribune

This is the letter I wrote to the Chicago Tribune, in response to their article, Judging Sarah Palin.

Dear Chicago Tribune,

This is in response to your question concerning Gov. Sarah Palin’s eligibility for the Republican ticket.

I am a Democrat, I admit, and think the choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate is appalling for several reasons, family issues and gender aside, and would love to see her removed from the Republican ticket—in favor of someone who might actually give McCain a better chance at winning.

To me, this is a great example of the kind of judgment and decision making we might expect from McCain should he win. This decision shows that he makes last-minute decisions on crucial matters with a questionable amount of serious consideration. This decision shows the level of hypocrisy that McCain stoops to—that he can attack Obama on his experience and simultaneously extol a woman for a year and half of service as Governor of the nation’s least populated state and for her service as a mayor of a village of under 10,000 people. This decision also shows how purely politically motivated McCain is, and that, far from being a maverick, he is a prisoner to the radical Right base. Clearly McCain wants more of the same if he picks a woman who could be the perfect protégé for Bush’s social beliefs and whose biggest asset is her appeal to the most radically religious population in this country.

The combination of making foolhardy decisions, engaging in double-standard politics where what’s bad for the Democrats is good for the Republicans, and appeasing the radical Right above all sounds an awful lot like George W. and the past eight years.

As for Palin, the fact that she is a woman makes no difference. Picking a woman because she is a woman and voting for one for that reason misses the whole point. The point is to have come to a time in U.S. history where nothing bars a woman’s way from being just as capable as anyone else, and being able to gain the same experience as everyone else, so that the first woman who ends up being the Vice President or President is there because she was capable, experienced, and deserving of the position due to a life-time of hard work. To get there simply because one is a woman, to be plucked up on gender while skipping the expectation of capability and experience, makes a mockery of history. Palin is not deserving of this distinction, not because she is a woman—and a hard-working one at that, no doubt—but because she has not put in the time, proven the capability, and gained the experience that would be expected of anyone else, male or female, to be ready to serve as the Vice-President and possibly President of the United States.

Her lack of experience and extremist social views pose a serious danger to this country if she should end up as President—the same danger that a male of equal merit would pose—the same danger and peril that Bush has put us in. This is a danger that McCain has now put us in, and that is a powerful testament to his judgment. My hope is that this nation will agree that she is not ready to pass this test, and that this election will be a referendum against McCain’s judgment.