Sarah Palin and the Women of America

I debated long and hard whether or not I would even bring up the subject. I've wrestled with a lot of thoughts about what is going on in the political arena regarding Sarah Palin and after so much has taken place, I think it's time to say something. First, I have to say that it is amazing to watch this election transpire. I am honored as an America citizen to be able to watch history be made no matter who wins this election. I am so proud to see America move forward and look past race and gender to place those they feel are most qualified into office. Which leads me to why I started writing this in the first place...

When John McCain first announced his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, I thought, "Wow, he's just trying to pick up all the Hilary supporters that just jumped on the bandwagon because she is a woman." Then I listened to Sarah's speech at the convention and loved her, I felt like I understood why he chose her. Nobody knew who the heck she was, unless they were from Alaska or visited there often, but that didn't matter, she really seemed to win over the hearts of many, at least me, I know that for sure. But as she started to do interviews and speak with the press, when a speech wasn't written out for her, when she had to think for herself, I began to feel embarrassed, as a woman, which I'll get back to later. She doesn't possess a working knowledge of what is necessary to run this country if John McCain died. All she knows is what has been drilled into her brain by others. She has no opinions of her own because she doesn't understand what is going on. I am not saying she is stupid, I don't believe that, she has obviously done a wonderful job governing Alaska, I just think that she never cared enough to know what is going on with America as a whole, and you can't just learn it all in 6 weeks. Even if you could, do we really want someone who hasn't cared all this time to be in charge of it all?

Woman have come so far, especially in these past few generations, and I felt like she was giving women a bad name, like she was making us all look bad. Women were given the right to vote only 88 years ago, and now we have women running this country along side the men who have been running it for the past 225 years (the sovereignty of the United States was recognized in 1783, not in 1776 when we declared our Independence). That is so hard to believe! 88 years is not a long time to make that much progress. Women have struggled to gain acceptance and equality in the workplace and everywhere else in this country and as soon as we are really beginning to see a commitment to change, she goes and, well...does what she did.

As I listened to more and more people talk about her, ones that have known about her for years, they all say she is competent, intelligent, a great politician and that we just need to give her a chance and let her be herself, then everyone will fall in love with her...again, in cases like my own. I still really like her...as a person, not necessarily as a politician or Vice President, specifically. Maybe she's just been nervous all this time because she's being watched by all of America, maybe she just needs some time to get used to celebrity on such a large scale and all the scrutiny in the press. So I thought I'd give her one more chance to prove herself to me and all the others who are skeptical...the Vice Presidential Debate. And that was it for me. She, at this point in time, is incapable of the job for which she is aspiring.

Before the Vice Presidential debate, Joe Biden had been discouraged (at least indirectly) from full on attacking her on the issues because she is a woman; he was supposed to take it easy on her because she is a woman, which he did, but that should have never been suggested. Gender should not be an issue. If she is competent, give her a chance to prove herself so we can all be confident that she is qualified; if she is not, we deserve to know. Don't protect her, don't let her hide, treat her as an equal. Treat her how she deserves to be treated. The suggestion alone about going easy on her tells me that we, as a country, have not progressed as far as I had hoped. How do I know that the next time I walk into a business meeting that I am not going to be more heavily scrutinized and have to put forth even more effort to prove my competence and intelligence to the men sitting across the desk from me, because if a woman can be considered as qualified to run for the Vice Presidency of the United States and not know what the heck is going on and people are okay with that, then how can they (the men sitting across the desk) be confident that I know what I am doing. How can they know that I have gotten where I am because I am capable and not because I've been given privilege because of my gender. And that goes for all women.

If you muted the television and just watched the debate, she looked amazing. Do I really need to say anything else? No, but I will, of course. If you are one of those people who don't really get into politics or follow what is going on, or if you do, but don't really understand it all and how it works, you will probably think she did a fabulous job, even if the television wasn't muted. She didn't do any of the oohs or uhhs or let's sees, there weren't any awkward moments of silence as she flipped through the files of her brain to find what she was programmed to say; she spoke in a way that made you FEEL like she knew what she was talking about. Which is pretty good for the Republican ticket because a lot of Americans don't really understand how it all works, anyway; it's complicated and confusing and people would rather just vote for whoever they like as a person. But for those who follow and understand, she hasn't made any progress from the days of the Katie Couric interview, and I think I'll leave it at that.

I have pasted a link below from YouTube that is the first part in a series of 11 segments that make up the debate in its entirety. Please watch it for yourself if you haven't already. Disregard any opinions written on the pages, along with mine, and form your own opinions. Don't be a robot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTC55Wv9paw

The Katie Couric interview can be found in segments on YouTube as well, although I have not linked it here.