Quote from Pa(b)st Prime:
When it gets right down to it Palin is the most accomplished PERSON we've seen on a national ticket in quite some time.
I honestly do not understand how one can come to this conclusion. Your measure of accomplishment seems to be biased towards your political affiliation. Affiliation, or you're holding onto something personal which is not allowing you to be objective.
Common sense measures of accomplishment put Obama way ahead in many categories. Did you happen to notice he's the first African American ever to achieve a presidential nomination? How about the fact the he was on the Harvard Law Review? For background info, getting on the HLR requires one being in the top 1% of one's law class (a class of 500 or so that is literally the best of a very large applicant pool), let alone the fact that just getting into Harvard is insanely selective. I speak from experience, my wife recently graduated from a top 5 law school and we've discussed these selective systems - Harvard Law Review is the top of the top.
Also, comparing lawyers from top tier schools to those of 3rd and 4th tiers is like comparing little league to the majors. Of course there are dummies across the board, but, you'll find that in every profession.
What you may be right on concerning Obama is his elitism. The man is top notch, we are talking the top 1% of the top 1%... given this, I can assure you that he likely has a substantial ego and this may contribute to certain voters' dislike of his persona. Especially those who don't like being around people better than themselves, whom Obama represents.
Intellectually speaking, I doubt anyone on this forum let alone anyone of the other candidates (except Hillary) even compare to Obama. Again, this is not to say he will make a good president. Palin, on the otherhand, has accomplished what any American can do with a good set of natural gifts. She is good looking, white, reasonably smart and likeable. Her life path has been easy by comparison to Obama. I can make an argument that, in terms of character development, Obama has accomplished substantially more than most Americans. The man's life path has been a constant challenge... he's overcome every challenge thus far and come out at the very top.
Palin is the everywoman, or, what the "everywoman" wants to be - a family centered career woman. McCain's choice in this case wasn't dumb but it wasn't that smart either.
Obama and Palin each have thier pros and cons, but, in terms of accomplishment we're talking 1 in 10,000,000 for Obama and 1 in 1000 for Palin. The man is leagues ahead.
Personally, accomplishment measures aside, who do you respect more? A person who has risen to the top through merit and hard work, or, a person who was choosen based a little bit on being in the right place at the right time... again, there's nothing wrong with being lucky, and in this case Palin is in the right place at the right time (Alaska = Oil Drilling, Hillary voters have a woman to relate to), but - in terms of accomplishment, there really is no comparison.
Personally, I am leaning towards Obama because his resume looks good and he conducts himself well. My beliefs stems from the fact that I believe the US should be run like a buisness. Running this buisness I want an educated - and lucky - CEO who always comes out ahead. That's not to say that Palin + McCain might do a better job, but, based on resumes and accomplishments Obama is easliy the more accomplished candidate, likeable and elitist or not.
