Experience or Political Savy?

"She might not have the experience but a lot of people don't have experience when they take a job," said Candy Cartaya, a Cuban-American and retired accountant speaking about Gov. Palin.

I have to give it to Candy Cataya, she has a reasoned response. Not reasonable, but at least reasoned.

Cognitive dissonance: A condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between one's beliefs and one's actions, such as opposing the slaughter of animals and eating meat.

I would be willing to place a bet that two months ago, prior to the Palin frenzy, Candy criticized Senator Obama for his lack of experience. In my first month of law school the process of discerning key differences has created a burden upon the students. We are forced into a constant and consistent state of cognitive dissonance. Just to create an example everyone can follow: grade school taught us that the sky look blue because of the absorbency and refraction of the hydrogen, helium, oxygen, etc, present in the atmosphere. Walk outside at dusk in any city with a population above 100,000, and you will see the brilliance of a polluted sky. Blue may still persist along the horizon, but orange, red and purple dominate your sight. What reason can offered as an excuse for this apparently disparate view? The angle of the sunlight entering the atmosphere; the high amount of pollutant factors which reflect or absorb colors not naturally affected by the sky; and then, every once in a while, someone will give you the crazy answer: because today was an extra happy day, and the Earth is smiling back.

Candy, you have given the crazy answer. You might argue that she has executive experience, no matter how limited. One could even stretch human imagination far enough to allow, however unreasonably, for the belief that her state borders a nation we are either currently or will soon appear to be at odds with, and thus she has experience dealing with foreign aggression (even though both Article 1 and 2 of the constitution forbids this).

But, Candy, please? How can her job experience not be necessary here? She has no knowledge on foreign policy. Her views are not supported by experts, but by political savvy. In a hypothetical world where McCain has died in office, we would be left with a President unaware of the history of American foreign policy, let alone capable of dealing with the complexities of a national economy interwoven with the international markets.

How can her experience not matter? This isn't an election for who will fill our sodas at the movie theater. Work experience may not be necessary in such an unskilled job. Most of us have taken a position which requires a week's training for us to master. This is the presidency. National factors, such as the economy, education reform, and natural disasters, require a breadth of knowledge lacking in any governor's chair, corporate position, or state legislator (National experience exposes individuals to these complex situations. I believe every congressman has more reason to present themselves to the national forum than a governor). Combine these with the precarious station of the United States as the "leader of the free world," and you have a behemoth of a nation waiting for the wrong leader to collapse the nation in upon itself.

Is Obama perfect? No, hardly, but at the least he is different. He is distinct from what we have known for the past decade. Economic policy has failed (this is written two days after the collapse of Lehman Bros.), our international stature has been a mess since the end of the Cold War, and Sen. Obama wants to fix that. Diplomacy, a form of communication the United States seems to have forgotten on the international stage, grants us the opportunity to speak with other nations about what they believe is the best course of action. The parental technique of "respect their intuition and they will respect your rules" works on the international stage as well.

Does he have experience? No, not enough. I have no excuse there. His ideals, mentioned above, however, seem to me to represent a potential for a brighter future. As a side note, I have heard too many people state that "It can't be much worse than our present situation." That must be the worst reason I have heard for voting for Obama (though admittedly I support anyone voting for him, regardless of the reason). Vote for him because you are interested in an ideal. Vote for him because he offers a "change you can believe in." Yes, I just used his campaign slogan. But, then again, I believe in change.

Ya... Palin. "A joke" just doesn't describe it.