At the end of so many John McCain commercials the narrator asks of Barack Obama, "Is he ready to lead?"

Tables are turning now that McCain has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate.  The very popular Governor from Alaska (approval ratings at 80 percent) has served in this capacity for less than two years.

Politico reports this morning that if the McCain/Palin ticket is successful, she would be the least-experienced person to fill the job in 100 years.

With the vice president being one heartbeat away from the presidency, people are asking, "is she ready to lead?

New poll

In a USA Today/Gallup poll taken Friday, 39 percent say she's qualified to be president while 33 percent say she is not.  Significant?

"That's the lowest vote of confidence in a running mate since the elder George Bush chose then-Indiana senator Dan Quayle to join his ticket in 1988," writes USA Today's Susan Page.  "In comparison, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was seen as qualified by 57%-18% after Democrat Barack Obama chose him as a running mate last week."

On the job training

In an exchange with Sean Holmes at FOX News yesterday, former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp was posed the "is she ready to lead" question.  Although clearly a supporter of Palin's, Kemp admitted there would be some learning on the job.

"Well, first of all we have a candidate in John McCain who knows an awful lot about foreign policy and national security," Kemp said.  "He knows a lot. He's been spending a lot of time with her. She has met every challenge in her life. She's a smart, intelligent, capable, able, tough woman, and I am convinced that she is going to make a great candidate, and she will be up to speed necessary."

This is something that Newsweek's Jonathan Alter says just isn't realistic.

"The problem is that politics, like all professions, isn't as easy as it looks," he said. "Palin's odds of emerging unscathed this fall are slim. In fact, she's been all but set up for failure."

Caution: rough road ahead

Unavoidable gaffes.  That's the prediction of The Atlantic's James Fallows.  He says, unlike Obama running mate Joe Biden who has been in the Senate for 35 years, she's got zero ramp-up time.  Could she be such a perfect fit for the job that she'll come away in the next two and half months unscathed?  Fallows says no way.

"The smartest person in the world could not prepare quickly enough to know the pitfalls, and to sound confident while doing so, on all the issues she will be forced to address," he writes.  "This is long before she gets to a debate with Biden; it's what the press is going to start out looking for."

Page: 1 | 2