When Sarah Palin was chosen as McCain’s pick for vice president, I took the news with decided optimism.  I reasoned that she was a good political choice. She was young, pretty, female, charismatic, and different. Then I realized I had just described all of the qualities of a good candidate for Miss America and began to change my stance.

As the campaign went on, I quickly realized that she wouldn’t have stood a chance in the Miss America Pageant. She had the speaking ability of Miss Teen South Carolina, and about all the brains. No, I am not impressed by the fact that she is “a hockey mom” or that she enjoys wearing lipstick. And I do not believe that fishing while wearing waders is an acceptable choice for a press conference.  But surprisingly, many people consider those traits and actions a good example of how politicians should carry themselves.

While working for a political campaign last year, I giggled when we got a huge shipment of six by six navy blue signs that read “SARAH!” in big letters across the front. I thought that no one would want them and I resigned myself to sticking them in the corner with the signs for the county judge election. Much to my surprise (and horror) we sold out of them within the hour. Middle-aged woman after middle-aged woman carrying a Coach bag and wearing a smile waltzed in, ordered one, and had it delivered to their home to be mounted on their fence.

I couldn’t believe such successful women would want to support someone like Palin. I believe that she gives a bad name to all women who work hard in politics. She is not a role model and is certainly not someone who is fit to run the country. If she had to go to five different schools and spend six years in college just to graduate with a degree in communications, then I think we may need to reconsider our trust in our friendly Alaskan. And if her bouts on the news have been any indication, I would bet money that she barely passed those communication classes.

But the point of this article is not to trash her personal life. Just because she was a mess in college doesn’t mean she couldn’t have cleaned herself up, right? Wrong. As mayor she toyed with the idea of removing “offensive” books from the library and made rape victims pay for their own rape kits. As governor, she committed ethics violations right and left and fired people for personal reasons. I could go on and on, which is amazing considering her political career has only gone on for a little more than a decade, but I’ll let you research further political incompetencies for yourself.

People object to my opinion of Palin, saying that she had an almost perfect approval rating for her first two years as governor of Alaska. I respond:  It’s difficult not to have a high approval rating in a state where oil is the main export and is going for over 150 dollars a barrel. I would also say that as soon as she hit the national stage, her ratings swiftly plummeted to around 54 percent. This, I believe, is a clear indication of how completely embarrassed Alaskans were by her outrageous behavior.

I am not one of those people who thinks that “people like me” are best equipped to run national politics, because that is not the case. If I am going to select a person to carry out wars, oversee the economy, and sign legislation into law, they better be the most intelligent person I can find. Sarah Palin is not that person. I am relatively certain that I could walk into a high school AP government class, pick someone at random, and they would run the country better than Mrs. Palin.

I am frankly appalled at the cult following surrounding Sarah Palin. People see that she is similar to them and blind themselves from seeing her faults. They need to open their eyes. Sarah Palin is not an innovator. She will not change the stigma of women in politics. She will not bring change to Washington. Because in order to do all of those things, first you actually have to know how.

Jessica Huseman is a sophomore CCPA and political science double major. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].