Who is Sarah Palin?

Hey Everyone,

I'm deeply convinced that Barack Obama and Joe Biden have just won the 2008 Election. One of the reasons why, is on Friday, the day after Obama's speech in which he officially accepted the nomination to be the representative of the Democratic Party in the 2008 election for the Office of President of the United States of America, John McCain decided to name a woman pictured to the left as his vice presidential nominee. Her name is Sarah Palin, and she is the current Governor of Alaska. She is a staunch conservative, probably even more so than John McCain, and is said to be a maverick like McCain, and has taken on the oil companies and won. However, when examining her record, it is obvious she is not prepared to be Vice President, and if something were to befall a Senator McCain, become President. Some people are questioning the reasons why he chose the 44-year old Governor, whose experience is limited. Republicans argue that she has experience working as the Chairperson of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (which was only a one year term), and as Governor of Alaska, Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and as a Council Member of Wasilla, Alaska. On paper, it sounds great, but when you break it down like I have, it means that the McCain/Palin campaign comes up short against an Obama/Biden ticket. 

Here's the breakdown:

Wasilla, Alaska is a town about an hour away from Anchorage, Alaska (the largest city in the entire state), and has a current population (according to the city website) of 6,715. 85% of that town is white, 5% Native American.  The entire town is about 12 miles big, and almost 1 mile of that is water. This is the very town that Governor Palin was elected mayor, twice, once in 1996 and again in 1999. Her political career actually started as a council member of this same town, and she came into that office in 1992, and served there until her first run for mayor in 1996. 

The entire state budget for Alaska is 5 million dollars, whereas the state budget of Illinois, Barack Obama's home state, is about 65 BILLION! Delaware, Joe Biden's home state, has a budget of 28 BILLION! So, even Delaware's budget is 5600 times bigger than that of Alaska. Now granted, the senate only gets a piece of that budget, and the governor oversees all of it, but it is reasonable to assume that the part of the budget going to Obama and Biden is significantly larger than that of Palin's entire budget. 

The other issue is the obvious idea behind McCain's choice...to appeal to the female conservative base, and those who want a woman on the ticket, specifically Hillary Clinton supporters. However, if you look at Palin's record, she is against abortion, even in cases of rape, incest or where the fetus could potenially harm the mother, and she is pro-gun rights. These are two staunch positions of the Republican party, and two areas that John McCain considers to be cornerstone positions of his "Pro-Life, Pro-Family" Republican Presidential ticket. Governor Sarah Palin is considered a strong nod to the social conservatives that are unsure about McCain. However, by adding her to his ticket, he can no longer make the argument about lack of experience that he has been saying for months, because despite Obama's lack of government tenure, 18 million plus people chose him over anyone else to lead the Democratic  Party as its Presidential nominee regardless of his time in the Senate, whereas Sarah Palin was not the result of a vote, but simply the choice of one man: John McCain. 

Another thing that seems to bother voters in my own research, is that Palin and McCain met only once before Friday's announcement, whereas Obama and Biden served together on the same Senate committee for years, and they also campaigned together for President, and again when Biden endorsed Obama. Palin and McCain barely know one another, unlike Obama and Biden, and while people do not expect candidates to be bosom buddies, but to at least know the location of the other's home...to be able to speak on the strength and witness of the person that they are campaigning with, and to be able to attest to their strengths and weaknesses.

A political commentator said that the Democrats had a great convention, and with this pick, they received an early Christmas present. We will find out in 66 days.

Who is Joe Biden?

Hi All,

This post is a bit of a departure from my tales of misadventures. I am a supporter of Barack Obama and his run for president. So I am very excited to see that he has selected Joe Biden. There was some speculation that he'd pick Evan Bayh, former Governor and now junior senator from the state of Indiana, current Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, current Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, New Mexico Governor Tim Richardson and even Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, his main rival in the Democratic Presidential Primary.As somewhat of a political nerd, I'm known for reading up on people and translating political lingo to my friends and family, I thought I'd answer the question that I'm bound to get, and that question is 

Who is Joe Biden?

Joe Biden is currently serving as a sixth-term senator from the tiny state of Delaware. Senators have a term of six years, so yeah, he's been in the Senate longer than I've been alive. He has been in the Senate since Barack has been ELEVEN years old. The guy has more Foreign Relations experience than anyone in the Senate. And, as a coincidence, he is the current Chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. This committee is mainly responsible for giving aid to foreign countries, oversees the selection of nominees to the office of the Secretary of State position in the Executive Office Cabinet, and works to create legislation that determines how the U.S. handles matters relating to foreign countries (also known as foreign policy). Just to give you an example, they were directly involved, if not the mastermind behind the purchase of the land that would become the state of Alaska in 1867, as well as the creation of the United Nations in 1945. This committee is one of the most influential in the Senate, and if selected to be a member of this committee, it pretty much means you are the ish. (Just a note: Barack Obama serves on this committee along with Biden, and the two have worked together on legislative matters related to the aims of the committee.) It is a well known 'rumor' that Hillary Clinton tried to get on this committee when she came into the Senate, but the seat went to Barack Obama. 

In addition to being Chairman (or Top Dawg) of the Foreign Relations Committee, he's also Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Crime and Drugs, and Co-Chairman of the Caucus on International Narcotics Control. See, what most people don't realize is that the Senate is not just 100 people in a room squabbling about issues. Most senators serve on at least two committees. These Committees often are so big that they have sub-committees that serves as branches of the large group. Senior Senators who have served longer than the other Senator from their state, ones like Biden, have a pick of which committees they serve on due to seniority, (as a way of showing respect, it is not a rule). Obviously committees like Foreign Relations, Judiciary (which helps confirm prospective Supreme Court judges) and Finance (which deal with money that the government gives to programs like Medicare, Social Security, as well as dealing with the National Debt) are the most glamorous because they get plenty of press, but also because they are the most influential. So because Biden serves on these committees, and others, he's a pretty busy guy. 

Junior Senators, ones that don't have much time served in the Senate as the other Senator from their state, are either appointed to a committee or selected by members of a committee based on their strengths, popularity and/or record. These committee members meet and deal with new bills or ideas that affect their committee and often will present their findings to the Senate when a vote arises. This is why people think Senators do nothing, but in fact, they are constantly meeting with one another, lobbyists for or against a bill and talking to industries affected by their committee ruling. 

Biden has strong opinions, is not without controversy, but is intelligent, honest and straight-forward. If he's posed a question that he does not know the answer to, which is rare, he will say, "I don't know." He's candid, open and friendly. I had the opportunity to hear him speak at a Senate hearing in my ventures in DC, and he was prepped so hard for that topic, it was ridiculous. He had notes, cards, and knew his subject backwards and forwards. He also had studied the topic so well that it was obvious he'd figured out what questions might be asked, and researched the ways to answer them. While that could be attributed to a good staff, it is a good sign that whomever McCain picks as his running mate will have to be on their toes in order to face off against Biden in a debate. 

He's run for President three times, in 1988, in 2004 and again in 2008. If you watched any of the Democratic debates earlier this year, you can remember him being the one pretty much acknowledged by all the other candidates, including Mike Gravel, for being the go-to guy on Foreign Relations matters. He was in the news recently for going abroad to Georgia, on President George Bush's insistence, to assist in coming up with a solution to the Russian/Georgian conflict that has been splattered all over headlines. He's 65 years old, so he's got the age and experience that the conservatives look for, but he's also unafraid to speak his mind and go against the grain, which is perfect for Obama's message of 'Change In Washington'. 

He's also a fighter. Biden lost his first wife and child in a car accident not too long after he won his Senate seat for the first time, in 1972. His other two sons were injured, but were able to recover, and Biden would travel over an hour from his home in Delaware to Washington D.C., something he continues to do, even today.  He also suffered from two brain aneurysms back in 1988 that almost killed him but after 7 months of recovery, he was back and serving in the Senate. 

I don't know about you, but I think this campaign has just gotten even more interesting. 

I can't wait to see what happens next.

*Ashley Robin*