Bob Herbert: We're electing a president, not an "American Idol" winner

While watching the Sarah Palin interview with Charlie Gibson Thursday night, and the coverage of the Palin phenomenon in general, I've gotten the scary feeling, for the first time in my life, that dimwittedness is not just on the march in the U.S., but that it might actually prevail.

How is it that this woman could have been selected to be the vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket? How is it that so much of the mainstream media has dropped all pretense of seriousness to hop aboard the bandwagon and go along for the giddy ride?

For those who haven't noticed, we're electing a president and vice president, not selecting a winner on "American Idol."

Next up: David Archuleta and David Cook compete to be Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense. Paula, what do you think? (Paula: Oooooh, I LOVE David Archuleta and David Cook, they're both so brave and so...well, HOT!  I'd vote for them any day!!)

Ms. Palin's problem is not that she was mayor of a small town or has only been in the Alaska governor's office a short while. Her problem (and now ours) is that she is not well versed on the critical matters confronting the country at one of the most crucial turning points in its history.

The economy is in a tailspin. The financial sector is lurching about on rubbery legs. We're mired in self-defeating energy policies. We're at war. And we are still vulnerable to the very real threat of international terrorism.

War and recession, terrorism and global warming...yawn. Give us the good looking woman who shoots her own moose for dinner and lives just a few hundred miles from a remote, uninhabited part of Russia that she can NOT see from her home town, even with the Hubble telescope! :)

Speaking of which, here's Herbert again:

To burnish the foreign policy credentials of a vice presidential candidate who never even had a passport until last year, the Republicans have been touting Alaska's proximity to Russia. (Imagine the derisive laughter in conservative circles if the Democrats had tried such nonsense.)

By the way, Sarah Palin was completely wrong (shocker, I know!) when she told Charlie Gibson that many vice presidents have not had international experience.  Let's see, does she mean Dick Cheney (former Secretary of Defense, among many other things), Al Gore (years of experience in the House and Senate, including on arms control and intelligence issues), George HW Bush (former UN Ambassador and envoy to China, among many other things), Walter Mondale (US Senator from 1964 to 1976, lots of international experience according to the Wall Street Journal), Lyndon Johnson (as Senate majority leader, met with everyone; also, was sent by President Roosevelt on a three-man survey team of the Southwest Pacific during World War II), Nelson Rockefeller (had been Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America and special assistant to President Eisenhower on foreign affairs), Richard Nixon (among other things, served on a committee that helped establish the Marshall Plan), or even Dan Quayle (ok, well, maybe not so much, and we see how well THAT one worked out)?

In the end, however, this isn't primarily about Sarah Palin, it comes right back to the judgment (or lack thereof) and priorities of JOHN MCCAIN. Here's Bob Herbert again:

John McCain, who is shameless about promoting himself as America's ultimate patriot, put the best interests of the nation aside in making his incredibly reckless choice of a running mate. But there is a profound double standard in this country. The likes of John McCain and George W. Bush can do the craziest, most irresponsible things imaginable, and it only seems to help them politically.

At this time of foreign policy crises, the challenges of globalization, climate change, and much more, it's time for that "profound double standard" to change. And no, living in a state that is pretty close to a remote part of Russia doesn't count, except maybe in American Idol celebrity worship world.

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