Experience

Did John McCain choose Sarah Palin as his running mate in order to create some kind of false equivalence between her paltry experience and Obama's (relatively) brief, but exceptional experience?

Perhaps.

It's a ridiculous equivalence to make, however. Look, Obama served for eight years in the Illinois Senate, representing a diverse, heavily populated region that encompassed rural areas, rust-belt regions, and the third-most populous city in the United States. He has served four years in the United States Senate, again representing the complex and diverse entity of Chicago and its environs. He passed legislation securing nuclear weapons across the globe and enforcing ethics reform for the nation's most powerful elected officials. He has thought about and made sophisticated policy statements and proposals about international affairs--beginning with his strong condemnation of the Iraq war before it began, when it was a very popular notion. He studied and taught Constiutional Law, studied at Harvard Law School, and worked as a community organizer in poverty-stricken South Side Chicago. He has shown remarkable grasp of the difficult topics necessary for the leader of the free world.

Sarah Palin has served as governor for about a year-and-a-half for one of the least populated, least diverse (racially and economically) states in the Union, one lacking any large urban center. Before that, she was the mayor of a town with a population of about 6,000 (which she saddled with $20 million in debt). I grew up in a town of about the size. I do not believe the mayor of Iowa Falls should be next in line for the most powerful political position in the world, in the history of the world, behind a 72 year old man with a history of cancer. I don't think Sarah Palin should either. In terms of knowledge, she has a bachelors degree in journalism. She has never made any pronouncements about national or international affairs, stating that she hadn't really thought about Iraq because she was focussed on Alaska's affairs. Good thinking. She should have stayed focussed on those issues and turned down John McCain's reckless and ill-considered offer of the Vice Presidency. What does she believe? What does she know about national and international issues? What does she know about the rest of the country and world? Obama has answered these questions in countless speeches, debates, interviews, and policy proposals. Palin is quite simply in over her head. Hopefully, the Republicans are not able to shield her from the tough questions she should have to answer. But, I fear they will, and she will simply hide behind her mildly interesting personal story.

It could be disastrous for this country if Sary Palin is dumped into the role of President, which could very likely happen. I never wanted John McCain to get elected, but now I'm pretty scared about what could happen if he was--and about how poor his leadership and decision-making skills must be.

This whole argument is made much better here:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/the-shock-of-pa.html#more