I will not lose a night's sleep worrying about the fact that the bright, articulate, winsome Sarah Palin could be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Sarah Palin is the only one on either ticket who has any executive "real world" experience – the only one of the four who has ever met a payroll or had bottom-line responsibility.
There are those who belittle the responsibility she had as mayor of Wasilla, or as the governor of Alaska. They shouldn't.
A few years ago, my husband and I were sitting aboard a jumbo jet in Athens, Greece. To help pass the time before takeoff, he took the information card from the seat pocket in front of him and used the calculator built into his handy, dandy pilot's watch to run the time, distance and fuel requirements for our flight to New York.
After a few minutes of spinning these dials, he announced that we didn't have enough fuel to make it. He was accustomed to doing these calculations for our small Cessna 180, but I kidded him about his ability to work with the large numbers for this jetliner. Surely, he had misplaced a few zeroes!
Hours later, I was eating my words, when the pilot announced that we would make an unscheduled stop in Connecticut to take on more fuel.
Yes, it's all about the zeroes. Bottom line: If you are smart enough to run a city effectively, you can run a state. If you are smart enough to run a state effectively, you can run a country.
As mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin had more than a hundred employees. As governor of Alaska she has a few thousand. As president of the United States, she will have a few million. Just add a few zeros. It's all the same. She has managed people, balanced budgets, worked with different political factions, fought corruption, handled the news media and – more importantly – fired people! That is something most politicians are reluctant to do. Why bother when there is a seemingly endless supply of citizens to tax. "Hit em again, harder, harder!"
Palin has one of the highest approval ratings of any governor. Among those who don't like the way she operates, you can figure that 20 percent of those people are disgruntled political opponents and the others are the families and friends of those she has ousted or fired.
As president, Palin will have to deal with many more issues than she dealt with as governor, and the problems will be even more complex. She is a quick study and, when presented with the facts, has demonstrated her ability to make good, appropriate decisions as the CEO of her city and her state.
With McCain as president, Palin will be a valuable second in command. In fact, if McCain has trouble getting Congress to pass much-needed reforms, he can unleash the barracuda. Clearly, she will use the bully pulpit as it has never been used before!
One argument used against her is that she should be home with her children. Where are the angry feminists when you need them?
No doubt Sarah would rather be home baking cookies instead of baking public policy. However, there was a job to be done in Alaska, and no men were willing to take on the corrupt political establishment in her state.
There are times when a woman has to roll up her apron and do what is needed for the sake of her children and other people's children.
John McCain has asked her to go with him to reform Washington. Palin is playing Deborah to his Barak (not Barack). To paraphrase the biblical story recorded in Judges: The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and were sold into the hands of a king who oppress them. When the men lost their will to fight, the Lord raised up Deborah, who summoned Barak and told him to go into battle with 10,000 men. Barak said to Deborah: "If you will go with me, then I will go." She did, and the men threw off their oppressors.
Republicans in Congress did evil in the sight of their constituents by overspending. They were sold by the citizens into the control of the Democrats who spent even more. The Republicans soon lost their will to fight. John McCain was wise enough to know that the courage of this little woman can help them get it back.
If at any time, McCain should be unable to fulfill his duties as president, rest assured, the country will be in this capable mother's hands.