Palin Is
Ready? Please.
McCain says that he always puts country first. In this
important case, that is simply not true.
By Fareed Zakaria
30/09/08 "NEWSWEEK"
-- - Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her
agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that
she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics,
"to spend more time with her family"? Having stayed in
purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview.
CBS's Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark
sympathetic style. It didn't help. When asked how living in
the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy
experience, Palin responded thus:
"It's very important when you
consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin
rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United
States of America. Where—where do they go? It's Alaska. It's
just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send
those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this
very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there.
They are right next to—to our state."
There is, of course, the
sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to
Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an
expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even
beyond that, read the rest of her response. "It is from
Alaska that we send out those …" What does this mean? This
is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of
talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological
mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can.
("We mustn't blink.") But if forced off those rehearsed
lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly,
gibberish.
Couric asked her a smart
question about the proposed $700 billion bailout of the
American financial sector. It was designed to see if Palin
understood that the problem in this crisis is that credit
and liquidity in the financial system has dried up, and that
that's why, in the estimation of Treasury Secretary Hank
Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the government needs
to step in to buy up Wall Street's most toxic liabilities.
Here's the entire exchange:
COURIC: Why isn't it better,
Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class
families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas
and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money
into the economy instead of helping these big financial
institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
PALIN: That's why I say I,
like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this
position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers
looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does
is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform
that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping
the—it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up
our economy and putting it back on the right track. So
health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in
spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief
for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as
opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in
five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got
to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under
the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of
that.
This is nonsense—a vapid
emptying out of every catchphrase about economics that came
into her head. Some commentators, like CNN's Campbell Brown,
have argued that it's sexist to keep Sarah Palin under
wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under
the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin
talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common
sense that's causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a
time bomb.
Can we now admit the
obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice
president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has
done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a
day thinking about any important national or international
issue, and this is a hell of a time to start. The next
administration is going to face a set of challenges unlike
any in recent memory. There is an ongoing military operation
in Iraq that still costs $10 billion a month, a war against
the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is not going
well and is not easily fixed. Iran, Russia and Venezuela
present tough strategic challenges.
Domestically, the bailout
and reform of the financial industry will take years and
hundreds of billions of dollars. Health-care costs, unless
curtailed, will bankrupt the federal government. Social
Security, immigration, collapsing infrastructure and
education are all going to get much worse if they are not
handled soon.
And the American government
is stretched to the limit. Between the Bush tax cuts,
homeland-security needs, Iraq, Afghanistan and the bailout,
the budget is looking bleak. Plus, within a few years, the
retirement of the baby boomers begins with its massive and
rising costs (in the trillions).
Obviously these are very
serious challenges and constraints. In these times, for John
McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is
fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts
country first. In this important case, it is simply not
true.
From the magazine issue
dated Oct 6, 2008
