Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin demonstrated her lack of knowledge on foreign policy in her interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric. Standing outside of the United Nations, Palin defended herself when Couric asked why she had just recently applied for a passport. As a working woman, she claimed to be limited in her ability to travel outside of the U.S.; instead, gaining all of her knowledge on foreign countries and policies from education, books and other various mediums. Obviously, her limited experience has stunted her mental capacity to understand any policy that does not include “values” or “Alaska.” Seeing that on those two topics, she comes across as intelligent and quite endearing at times.
Nonetheless at one question involving Alaska, she failed yet again. When Couric offered to give Palin a chance to redeem her position concerning Russia’s close proximity to Alaska giving her foreign policy experience, Palin still sang the same tune. “Our next-door neighbors are foreign countries,” Palin said. She continued to state that Alaska and Russia trade together and that Putin enters the fly space of Alaska.
When asked about the economic crisis, Palin asserted that people were waiting to see what McCain would do, not Obama. When Couric insisted that Obama’s rating with the public has increased with the current crisis, Palin balked at the poll numbers claiming instead that Americans look at track records. However, her lack of knowledge on McCain’s track record of commerce regulation left her clambering for an answer when Couric insisted on “specific examples” of McCain “pushing for more regulation” in the last 26 years. With a smile on her face Palin said, “I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring ‘em to ya.”
Palin has done wonders for the Republican ticket, boosting poll numbers and attracting media attention. She is pretty, down-to-earth and fierce at times; even so, she is beginning to look like the caricature political cartoonists have drawn her to be. It is obvious from this interview and her “track record” that she is not ready to fill in for McCain if he were to take office and croak. Perhaps the McCain advisors and staff should begin preparing her for her next interview, or better yet for the debate on Thursday night.


The SNL parody of the interview was hilarious.

The next president assuredly faces many daunting challenges in the next four years, only a handful of which were addressed by Holbrooke in his article, which, by the way, was extremely biased in my not-at-all-expert opinion. However, many of the issues he addressed will be a major focus and should be carefully considered.
Iraq is a huge issue, and one of the biggest administrative disasters of the Bush era. A withdrawal is necessary, but should not occur all at once. Now that we have been asked to leave, and Iraq feels it can handle itself, I feel that we should bow out. It is no longer our battle (if it ever was) and our time there should now come to an end.
Green energy is also a large focus, and neither of the candidates are as strong as I would like to see. Emily made a great point in her blog concerning Al Gore. We most assuredly would not be in the position we are today if he had been elected. The United States would be a greener country and the better for it. I'm not saying I would have voted for Gore solely on his environmental platform, I was far too young to vote anyway, but he had a good vision for this countries environmental progress and the next president should definitely take that into account.
Our presence in Afghanistan should also be addressed. Americans are still angry about September 11, even if they are not as vocal about it as before. Continued presence in Afghanistan would not raise the kind of outcry that the same in Iraq would create. Furthermore, relations between the U.S. and the Middle East must be carefully analyzed. Yes, Muslim extremists exist, but the U.S. has allowed a view of the Muslim world to remain in our country that is deeply biased and a negative representation of what the majority of Muslim people are about. Yes, jihadists and Muslim extremists exist. No they do not accurately represent the whole of the Muslim world.
Finally, we must consider the lack of U.S. assistance in Africa. It seems to me that the United States is willing to fight the battles of some nations in the name of Democracy, but unwilling to stop slaughters in others (Rwanda, Sudan, Darfur). And while I am not calling for U.S. involvement, it does seem necessary to me that the U.S. establish a foreign policy and stick with it, not just fight the battles that will benefit them the most in the long run.
The next president faces many obstacles and many decisions. It is a job that I would never want to have, and a responsibility that I could never handle. I only hope that the candidate that wins the election is fully prepared for the situation they will enter and has a good head on their shoulders.