Desire

Ever since people started claiming that Palin is just as qualified to be President as Obama I have had this thought that I haven't quite been able to articulate. It revolves around what I see as a critical difference, that being that Obama has had a clear desire and AMBITION to be President, while Palin, it seems to me, probably hadn't thought about it much at all until she was asked to join McCain. As I said, I couldn't really articulate why this matters to me, but it does.

I just read this excellent article by James Fallows that explains what I couldn't. It has to do with Palin not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is, and why this is so important. Here's a quick excerpt from the article:

What Sarah Palin revealed is that she has not been interested enough in world affairs to become minimally conversant with the issues. Many people in our great land might have difficulty defining the "Bush Doctrine" exactly. But not to recognize the name, as obviously was the case for Palin, indicates not a failure of last-minute cramming but a lack of attention to any foreign-policy discussion whatsoever in the last seven years.

He ties that all into why this lack of interest is important, and I think he makes a very good point. But go ahead and read it yourself.