...now I remember why I don't want to be President

Ok, so thus far I've refused to be baited into any political discussions for the simple reason that it's one of two topics that you're never going to change someone's mind about, no matter how awesome you may be in debates. But this week's absurdity has compelled me to say out loud (or, um, in type, as it were) why it is that I don't want to be president...

My cousins' grandparents (Gram and Gramps Molinski) love me like I'm one of their own. I love them right back. But every time I get a chance to visit with them, they always ask me "when are you gonna run for president?" I always laugh and make some crack about not having a strong enough verbal filter for that job or having too low of a bullsh*t tolerance, yada yada yada. But to be specific for a change, the reason why I don't want to be the president of the United States of America is simple: you're never going to be good enough to do the job. No matter your platform, no matter your stance on the issues, no matter the level of dedication or service to your country, millions of your own citizens are going to hate you, and the vast majority of the rest of the world is going to hate you too. And don't get me started on the media...

It's gotten to the point where I can't force myself to watch the news. While I normally watch Fox and Friends in the morning because the interaction between Steve and Brian makes me giggle, I found myself being similarly disgusted with them as I normally would be with CNN or NBC. My issue with Fox News is this: Obama was not referring to Sarah Palin when he referenced putting lipstick on a pig!!! If you took the time to hear the entire speech, you'd know unequivocally that Obama was talking about McCain when he said "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." He was referring to the fact that despite the fact that the McCain campaign has started to use the 'change' theme, he's still more of the same old establishment. Admittedly, it was a boneheaded move on Obama's part to reference 'lipstick' in any way, given the roaring popularity of Palin's joke at the RNC, but I'm fairly certain he wasn't thinking about that joke when he made his. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Obama fan, but sheesh, cut the guy some slack, will ya?

Now onto the liberal establishment. I find it completely ironic how people are attacking Palin's inexperience and using the argument that it's a serious concern given that McCain is so old and is far more likely to die during his first term, thus making Palin president. Let's think about this logically, shall we? The liberal establishment is saying that there's a strong possibility that if the Republican ticket is elected, a young, inexperienced, charismatic speaker will be president of the United States of America. But they completely ignore the fact that if the Democratic ticket is elected, it's a guaranteed certainty that a young, inexperienced, charismatic speaker will be president of the United States of America.

While I find it absurd that people are comparing the VP candidate on one side with the Presidential candidate on the other, it's happening, so let's discuss for just a second. The liberals say that Palin doesn't have the experience necessary to be president. Just for the record, Sarah Palin was a City Counsel Member from 1992 to 1996 in Wasilla, Alaska (a town of about 7,000 people). From 1996 to 2002, she was Mayor of Wasilla. From 2002 until January 2004, Palin served as Chair of the Alaska Oil and Natural Gas Commission. From 2004 until June 2005, she served as Director of Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc., which was an organization designed to support and train Republican women in Alaska. In December 2006, Palin took office as Governor of Alaska and has served in that capacity since then.

Now let's look at Obama's record. Obama served as an Illinois state Senator from 1997 until 2004. He took office as a United States Senator in January 2005, and on February 10, 2007, he began his campaign for president of the United States of America. It has been noted repeatedly in by the liberal establishment that Obama was a community organizer from 1985 until roughly 1997. For those of you that don't know exactly what a community organizer is, it's a person that takes special interest in the community in which he or she lives and takes action via social groups and organizations to improve their community (or at least, that's what Wikipedia says...hey, I had to look it up too, because I wasn't exactly sure what it meant).

Admittedly, Obama has 7 years of legislative experience on the state level, and another 25 months of legislative experience on the federal level (yes, I know he's still technically a senator, but let's face it, for the past 19 months he's been somewhat distracted from his senatorial duties). While he spent 12 years helping to better his community, he had no actual public duties or authority. He has roughly 9 years of legislative experience but no executive experience whatsoever. Palin has 4 years of municipal legislative experience, 6 years of municipal executive experience, and 2 years of state executive experience. Additionally, she has 2 years experience heading a commission under the executive branch of state government, and another year of experience working as community organizer of sorts. Clearly, Obama beats Palin on the legislative experience, but, um....I'm not sure if y'all realized this but...the office of the President of the United States of America is an executive office, not a legislative office. Just, uh, FYI.

So, in summation, the liberal establishment is worried about the possibility that a young, charismatic speaker with 8 years of executive experience might take the highest executive office in the country if the Republicans win, but they're not worried at all about the absolute certainty that a young, charismatic speaker with 9 years of legislative experience will take the highest executive office in the country if the Democrats win. Honestly, people, attacking Palin on her inexperience as an executive is absurd considering the alternative is someone just as young and just as charismatic but with no executive experience. And may I just remind you all that Palin is running for vice-president? That's not the office of president -- it's the office of the spare; the person we call in if something happens to the head dude in charge; the BACKUP QUARTERBACK. Obama is running for president. You know, the head dude in charge? The STARTING QUARTERBACK?!? Don't get me wrong, Greg McElroy's a great guy, and I'm sure he's a great quarterback, but when it comes to gameday, I want John Parker Wilson taking the snaps, not wearing the headset on the sidelines....I'm just sayin'...

Oh yeah, and ROLL TIDE!

p.s. although I don't agree with his political beliefs, he's spot-on regarding his opinion of the media...and he's pretty hot to boot, so here's some Jon Stewart for your viewing pleasure -- trust me, it's worth the 10 minutes to watch this: