Sarah Palin

There’s been a lot of talk about Sarah Palin in recent weeks. Her book tour as thrust her back in the national spotlight a little over a year after her defeated bid for the White House with John McCain.

Her book, Going Rogue, sits loftily on top of the New York Times Bestseller List. She sold 700,000 copies in the first week and that is undoubtedly only the beginning. People have waited in lines for hours, in mid and late November, mind you, to meet the former Governor of Alaska.

The Associated Press reported last week Palin sold 700,000 copies of her memoir in its first week, a number that far surpasses most political books.  But it falls short of the more than 900,000 copies sold of Bill Clinton’s 2004 memoir “My Life” during its debut week.

As a conservative, I was supportive of her candidacy for the Vice President and thought John McCain made an excellent decision when he picked Palin to be his running mate. Had he not, the landslide victory for Barack Obama might have been an even bigger landslide.

No one can say for sure what Sarah plans to do over the next four years, but it appears she is in the early stages of mounting a campaign for President.

There is obviously no litmus test for who is qualified to be President. No one, I think, is truly qualified to do the job. Sarah Palin is just as capable of making decisions that affect the country and the world as anyone else. I say this because I believe no one is capable or qualified to make the decisions. Rather, all we can do is send up the best person we have and hope they don’t screw it up.

With that said, Sarah Palin isn’t the best person we have.

I love Sarah Palin. She excites people, she motivates people and she is an unapologetic conservative. But she is not a viable candidate. She is not the right kind of person to be President. Sarah Palin is better suited for an AM talk radio show rather than the situation room.

I firmly believe America needs a President much like the one we have now. Not that I agree with his politics or philosophy, but Barack Obama is a smart and capable man. A smart man who has excelled at every stage in his life. The people around him have attested to his ability and desire to work on policy rather than politics, and we all know he gives a good speech. In short, we have the right type of man as President now, just not the right one.

Sarah Palin isn’t the type of person I want to be President. She’s not a thinker, not a decider. Yes, she’s inspirational and yes she’s exciting, much like President Obama, but she isn’t necessarily intellectual. She isn’t a visionary or leader like Reagan.

I don’t oppose a Sarah Palin Presidency for who she is, but rather for who she is not.

Does President Obama’s Approval Rating Mean Anything?

President Barack Obama’s approval rating has been hovering just below 50 percent this week. According to Gallup’s three-day rolling average, only 49 percent of Americans approve of the job he is doing as President.

Symbolically, it is somewhat significant. Historically, it might not matter at all. Addressing the latter first, it should be duly noted that although President Obama is the fourth fastest President to fall below 50 percent, every President but John Kennedy since Harry Truman has done so.

Although the current decline below 50% has symbolic significance, most of the recent decline in support for Obama occurred in July and August. He began July at 60% approval. The ongoing, contentious debate over national healthcare reform has likely served as a drag on his public support, as have continuing economic problems. Americans are also concerned about the Obama administration’s reliance on government spending to solve the nation’s problems and the growing federal budget deficit. Since September, Obama’s approval rating had been holding in the low 50s and, although it has reached 50% numerous times, it had never dropped below 50% until now.

Of the post-World War II presidents, Obama now is the fourth fastest to drop below the majority approval level, doing so in his 10th month on the job. Gerald Ford dropped below 50% approval during his third month in office, and Bill Clinton did so in his fourth month. Ronald Reagan, like Obama, also dropped below 50% in his 10th month in office, though Reagan’s drop occurred a few days sooner in that month (Nov. 13-16, 1981) than did Obama’s (Nov. 17-19, 2009).

Of all the Presidents who dropped below 50 percent, Truman, Richard Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush were all re-elected. Only Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush were not.

Which way will things go for President Obama? The answer probably depends on health care and Afghanistan.

If Congress is able to work through health care reform, with or without a public option, the President may be able to claim victory and use this as a spring board in the 2010 mid-term elections and then in 2012. Also, if his Afghanistan decision is well received with the public, his numbers could rebound.

These are only two of the issues President Obama will have to address and it is still early in his term. But, the President’s opportunity to get his agenda passed is slowly waning. Next spring will be his last opportunity with this Congress. After elections in 2010, he’ll have the early part of 2011, but after that campaigning will begin again for 2012.

In sum, the trend for President Obama probably means little, if anything at all. Nonetheless, it has to be troubling for a President who was so popular just 10 months ago to have fallen this far.