On Palin and Oil

Today is Sarah Palin's big day. She's due to take the stage any moment now.

For my part, I'm rather curious to see what she will have to say. Prior to being named McCain's VP for the Republican ticket, she was completely off the map, a relative nobody outside of her native Alaska. In less than a week, the country has rushed to get to know everything about this woman--her background, her family, the skeletons in the closet, and why her inexperience is simultaneously a negative and redeeming factor. Sure, the Vice Presidential role is not necessarily a big one; you're the back-up without much official power, and the position is really whatever you make of it. But you are still one of the most influential people in the country, and there's a good chance you'll be doing a lot of diplomatic work. Important to make sure that you're ready and a fit for the job.

On most issues, I think Palin is getting more crap than she deserves. The press seems to be focusing on her personal life and pro-life, pro-contraception, abstinence-only education stance, digging up anything they can. In terms of her teenage daughter's pregnancy, I have to say, kudos to the family for sticking by their principles and keeping the child, despite the outcry of hypocrisy from the media. Instead, I'd prefer to shift emphasis to Palin's role with the Alaskan environment:

She's doubted global warming and pretty much worked against environmentalists' efforts for a cleaner Alaska. She actually fought to get the polar bears off the endangered species list. She initially supported the Bridge to Nowhere project in Alaska. And she supports drilling in the Alaskan National Reserve for oil... I don't care what the oil companies say, technology hasn't improved enough that that wouldn't destroy the environment. Even McCain is against that.

Palin, like many of the Pres or VP candidates that preceded her, represents more of the same in terms of the energy crisis. She is looking for the answers in the places we have found them before, but does not consider that it may be time to put that famous American Innovation into action, seeking not new oil, but new means of energy altogether.

...More on this to come. Now, to the TV!


EDIT: She's a very talented speaker and good at connecting with the crowd. But curiously, she spoke little of herself, and instead threw shot after shot at "the opponent" (never named) and lavished praise on McCain, telling the life stories that he should tell himself. This was her moment to shine and introduce herself to America; now I feel even more wary.

More on Oil, the Energy Crisis, and American Innovation to come.