So, it occurred to me when I got an invitation on Facebook to join a group called “I have more foreign policy experience than Sarah Palin,” that I do, in fact, have more foreign policy experience than Sarah Palin. (At the time of writing, the group had about 81,000 members)
While working what I would consider a mid-level position on a powerful U.S. congressional committee (NOT on Appropriations;o), as well as in the nonprofit sector, I met President Uribe of Colombia, then-President Toledo of Peru, and then-President Fidel Castro. I have also met with foreign ministry officials (including at the equivalent level of Deputy Secretary of State), and I have met with ministers and top officials in foreign national banks, commerce, agriculture, trade, education, communications, and probably some others. I have also negotiated trade deals in some of these meetings. I have traveled to 17 countries outside of the United States, and lived in three of them for at least six months. And I’m nobody.
But now Governor Palin, who is nearly a decade older than me–a nobody–has a slightly different resume.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin got her first passport in 2006 and has visited just four countries, and has had little involvement in her state’s cross-border issues, raising questions about her supporters’ assertions that Alaska’s proximity to Russia has given her unique experience on foreign affairs…..
Palin has also visited one fewer country than originally stated by her Alaska office. Earlier in the week, the governor’s Alaska spokeswoman was quoted as saying Palin had traveled to Iraq, Kuwait, Germany, and Ireland, in addition to Canada. McCain campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella acknowledged yesterday that Ireland was only a refueling stop on a trip in July 2007 to visit Alaskan National Guard troops in Kuwait and Iraq.
Shoot, I guess now I have to scratch Slovakia (or is that Czechoslovakia, I get them confused) off my list even though my train stopped in Bratislava for like an hour, and if I had not been so lazy I could have run outside the train station and snapped a picture!!
Nonetheless, even with just 16 countries on my list, I would still make a way more qualified veep than Sarah Palin, who by the way, has never met a head of state, even from Russia, a country so close that people with excellent vision (or babe librarian eyeglasses) can see it from Alaska. How does that make you feel? Like joining that group on Facebook?
Inform Your Consent 