Meyera Oberndorf for President!

A letter to the editor that got out of hand:

Meyera Oberndorf for President! I’m just joking; she’s really not qualified.

She’s been the Mayor of a city, Virginia Beach, with a population comparable to that of the entire state of Alaska for twenty years and was in the City Council for a decade before that. She oversaw the city through a decade when it was the fastest growing city in the nation. She presided over the city as its size doubled and redoubled. Virginia Beach is home to the largest naval air station in the world as well as several other notable military installations. Considered together with the adjacent cities’ military operations, including the largest naval base in the world, the naval operations in Virginia Beach make it vitally important to our national defense. The Virginia Beach campus of Tidewater Community College alone enrolls two thirds as many students annually as the entire state-wide University of Alaska System. The city has the 45th largest public school system in the nation. Meyera has managed this domain for decades, not just years, and for any shortcomings she’s had, we have to let her off the hook, because it has not been an easy task. Meyer has interfaced with international businesses and delegations. She’s dealt with the military. She’s dealt with job loss and job creation, with natural resource shortages, with land and resource development. She’s overseen a police department comparable in size to the Alaska National Guard. But, does this prove she’s qualified to manage the national budget, the national defense, and national economic and energy policies? Can she guide us into energy independence? Does it show she understands the complexities of the conflicts in the Middle East or the foundations and implications of the West’s conflict with Russia? No. No. No. It doesn’t.

Statistically speaking, McCain has a slim chance of surviving his first term based on his age and medical history, so he needs a second who is ready to run with the ball. Sarah Palin is NOT ready. Regardless of how she appeals to people with her ideology, she is simply not qualified. The presidency is not a job that just requires folksy common sense; it requires expertise. And, Palin has none. Her reputation as a reformer is shaky at best, having abused her office, fired any public official with whom she had a disagreement, and having “stood-up to” oil companies by building a pipeline they did not want. Her conservative ticket’s claim to maverickdom is oxymoronic. By choosing her, McCain has completed the sale of everything he stood for eight years ago. He has sought and found the lowest common denominator, and it is shocking to see the people seem to be buying it.