The Vice Presidency

So "my friend" John McCain has chosen Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Among the reasons he mentioned for choosing her are:

1. Her understanding of "energy issues." (rather vague and ambiguous but I'll give "my friend" the benefit of the doubt on that one)
2. Her understanding that Russia is right next to Alaska. (I should hope she understands that. Also I would hope that most other state governors have a basic enough grasp of geography to fully "understand" that).
   

Now, Palin seems like a nice enough lady. She's easy on the eyes and heck ideologically I have more in common with her than I do McCain. She seems to be a family-oriented yet career-minded woman which I thought was the goal of the feminist movement-- giving women the choice to pursue a career, be a mom, or both... So why is such a big deal being made out of a woman who seems to exemplify almost everything the feminist movement stands/stood for? Why is more focus being put on her family than on her?

I have reservations about Palin as a VP pick but they have nothing to do with:

1. She's a woman.
2. She's a mother.
3. Her husband had a DUI arrest 20 years ago (Teddy Kennedy was guilty of vehicular manslaughter over 40 years ago and he got a tribute video done for him for his party's convention!)
4. Her daughter is going to be a teenage mom.

Rather my reservations with Palin have to do with:

1. Lack of experience

She's been the governor of the largest (in area) and least populous state in the country for two years and was a mayor prior to that. Now she may be a smart woman, may be ambituous and have a good head on her shoulders. And who knows she might even be vice presidential or even presidential material... with a few more years experience under her belt. I just don't think she's "there" yet.

All this focus and negative press being given to her private life, her family, her husband's past may very well help her become our first female Vice President. Focusing on her private life rather than her lack of experience will disenfranchise many who are still sitting on the fence about her. If enough focus is put on her private life with little or no attention being paid to her professional life... people might start asking-- "Are they focusing so much on her private life so much because they don't have anything legitimate to criticize regarding her career? Maybe she is actually qualified to do the job after all..."

People are sick of the negative campaigning... Sick of McCain's personal attacks on Obama and even though Obama is personally taking the high road there are others on the left (Moveon.org and that ilk) who aren't and their focus on her private life despite their candidate's personal stance that Palin's private life is "off-limits" could very well disenfranchise enough possible supporters of Obama to get McCain and Palin elected.

The next few weeks will be quite interesting.