Then, there’s the fact that the closer you look at their two records, the better Obama’s and the worse Palin’s experience look, until you realize they’re on two discrete levels. (Admittedly, not only are Obama and McCain/Biden two on discrete levels, but there’s a couple in between them, too.) Palin’s mayorship left her previously debt-free town in $22 million of debt; being governor of Alaska, as far as I can tell, is like playing SimGovernor—when you know the cheat which lets you gain $1,000,000 every time you hold down the Option key and type “OIL”. That’s about all she’s got, and unlike Obama, she hasn’t been preparing for this thing for the last 4 years: meeting with experts, learning the ropes of foreign policy, thinking seriously about big issues, etc.

Now, if McCain had actually been grooming Palin all this time—if, when she had become governor, he had met with her and told her to study up because he’s running in 2008 and if he gets the nod he wants her as his VP—well, then the man would have been a genius; it’s more likely than not that she’s capable of becoming an impressive national-level figure. But he didn’t—and he didn’t pick Jindal instead, whom you suspect started prepping for his own bid at some point in the Reagan administration—so she’s just not even close to ready yet. I understand why McCain’s rolling the dice on Culture War Part XVIII, and it might work. I also understand why Obama’s callowness is a minus; I’d prefer the candidate he’d be in four or eight years, too. But Palin’s is going to prove catastrophic. I only hope it’s before November.

Gee – can’t imagine what about the last eight years might have made people value candidates who actually have a clue about what’s going on…