Palin's Vague Ideologies

It’s been a little over a week since McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate and she’s already stirring up controversy. Even before I knew anything about Palin, I was annoyed by McCain’s decision because it was very obvious he picked a female just to steal the swing voters that were originally supporters of senator Hillary Clinton. Now that I have heard more about Palin’s background I’m just downright angry.

McCain used to always say Barak Obama’s lack of experience was the reason he should not be the next president, but then he picked a running mate with even less of it. The Anchorage Daily News recently released a story highlighting the pros and cons of Palin’s leadership abilities. Her own fellow Alaskans criticized her for not being able to focus on details.

“Outside of her top priorities, though, the limitations of Gov. Palin's leadership style begin to show. She delegates much of the detail work and spends little time on second-tier subjects,” said the article.

Palin likes to focus on big issues and use her charisma to push those issues but then relies on management teams to get it done for her. She’s not the first person to do this, but the fact that people from her own state are saying she has trouble choosing people with good track records to run her teams, worries me.

The article also mentioned Palin’s newfound partisanship. When she acting solely as Alaska’s governor, Palin often made bipartisan decisions and worked with democrats to get things done. Now that she’s been chosen as the vice presidential nominee she has become the complete opposite. In her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention she took a strong stance against Obama and democrats and an even stronger stance for her party. It seems strange to me that she would change her ideologies so quickly. An article in Newsweek quoted her as having said that she did not feel strongly about any of the Republican nominees earlier this year. Palin herself did not want to endorse any of the nominees and did not feel they stood out. Now that she’s been chosen as the nominee she suddenly feels like McCain is the man for the job? I feel as though her speeches have been insincere and she just wants to further her own career.

I do not feel the country needs a person who constantly contradicts her own beliefs in the white house. In the past she spoke against her own party for being corrupt but now she’s 100 percent with them. She’s also known for being a reformer, but she’s also being accused of exerting improper influence on city and state government. I am not really sure what’s kind of shady things she’s been accused of doing, but I do know I’m not ready to trust someone who has those kinds of allegations behind them. Palin has probably already helped McCain steal some of those swing voters, it’s been apparent in recent polls, but I hope people eventually see passed the fact that she’s a woman. People should try to see her for what she stands for, and what she stands for is not something I’m willing to support.