This just in: Sarah Palin might run for president.

Her announcement, which she made on Sunday, was even less of a surprise than it was a definitive yes or no. Everyone’s been operating on the assumption that Palin, the darling of the Tea Party movement, will run in 2012. By saying she’ll do it if she believes that it’s “the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family,” she left quite a bit of wiggle room to read the political winds in a few years time and back out if they don’t seem favorable. All the same, this is what passes for news these days, and the blogosphere lit up with speculation as to her intentions.

Some Republicans might be cheered by the prospect of a conservative ideologue with grassroots support headlining the GOP ticket. But the more sensible members of the party should quake with fear.

The media didn’t show much respect to Palin when she signed on to John McCain’s presidential campaign. Some of the criticisms she faced were based on a double standard a man would never have had to deal with. Most, though, came from the fact that she is in no way qualified to be president.

This is a woman who, according to a top McCain aide, couldn’t explain why North and South Korea were different countries and maintained that Saddam Hussein helped plan 9/11. She listed Alaska’s proximity to Russia as her foreign policy experience. When Charlie Gibson asked her if she agreed with the Bush doctrine, she had no idea what he was talking about. Palin couldn’t pass fifth-grade social studies, let alone run a country.

The failed Bush years showed us what can happen when you put an inexperienced, unqualified person in the White House. We can’t afford to make that mistake again. The GOP should shy away from Palin and instead nominate one of its many other, better prepared members to challenge Barack Obama in 2012.
 

Nathaniel French is a junior theater major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].