I have a question: When does a Vice President get sworn in?
in a Mutha' Fuckin' crisis!
EVEN IF we granted that Palin is just as qualified as Obama (which she isn't) and therefor qualified to become president (which she is not) it still does not follow that she is qualified to become VICE-president.
America has a history of electing young, visionary, if inexperienced, presidents who go on to become great presidents: Lincoln and Kennedy to name two. These presidents certainly face a learning curve on how to properly wield executive power, but their strength of vision as well as ability to draw on trusted advisers meant that they were able to guide our country with adequately capable hands, even as they had to get "on the job training" to improve the capability of their hands.
A Vice President, on the other hand, will be BY NECESSITY leading our country during a crisis. Now, for the sake of the country, one would hope that the crisis is only the emotional crisis of a head of state dying of natural causes. But in this age of Nuclear Threats, Terrorism, Assassinations, and possible global pandemics or who knows what, that crisis may very well be one that is not only tragic but also a vital and existential threat to America.
While the President elect has a few months to prepare and transition him/her self and his/her cabinet to take on the mantle of the presidency, the Vice-President must be ready to go from gala balls and monotonously breaking ties in the Senate one minute to possibly, in the very next minute, making life or death decisions that impact on the lives of millions of Americans. There may be no time to talk to advisers, there may be no time to learn how to operate the leavers of power, there may be no time to get to know the cabinet (some of whom may be dead or dying)... The vice-president must become the president and lead from the very first second.
Additionally, the questions about a Presidential candidates readiness are put directly to the voters. Obama, though some may ague he is inexperienced, was able to assemble some 20 million primary votes from voters where able to make the decision for themselves if they were willing to trust their families lives to his judgment even though he lacked a prodigious chronological metric of "experience". That was an 18 month process that is still on-going and will let every American have a voice as to his readiness by its end. Obama has further put the minds of Americans at ease by selecting a Vice-Presidential candidate with unquestionable experience and judgement by any measurement.
On the other hand, John McCain single handedly short-changed the American public's ability to become comfortable with his vice-presidential pick. We will now only have 8 weeks, as a nation, to become familiar with Governor Palin. Eight weeks to make a gut check as to what she would do in a crisis. Eight weeks to decide if we want to hand our lives and the lives of our family over to her in what could be the most dire of catastrophes. Eight weeks to learn if she would lead with courage in a crisis or cower like a deer in the headlights.