It seems to me that the Republican party thinks that all feminists are idiots (in case you’re not a geek such as myself the title translates to Feminist “does not equal” Idiot). However, I do believe it is quite the opposite. I know that I have made it perfectly clear in the past that I have been very luke-warm about Obama’s candidacy. Being a Democrat and without any better options I would most likely have voted for him anyway but I wasn’t going to go out canvassing for him or talking about what a great candidate he is. That was until Sarah Palin entered the political arena.

Now, I am not unique, quite a few of my friends have been less than excited since Hillary tragically did not break the last and highest glass ceiling out there but we were complacent with the Obama-Biden ticket. This development with Sarah Palin has sent us screaming at the top of our lungs, just because we are women does not mean we will stand behind a woman who does not share a single value in common with us. If we were luke-warm about Obama before, I know many of us are ready to hit the streets to canvas for him now. It’s amazing the kind of turn-around people can have when struck in the face with a truly frightening candidate.

I mean let’s consider the facts about Sarah Palin:
– She believes in creationism, which is fine by me believe whatever you want at home, but do not put an unproven non-scientific theory into my schools. You are free to not believe in evolution but I do think that it should be taught as it does have a very distinct place in science and without it we, Americans, continue to look like uneducated neanderthals.
– She believes in abstinence-only sex-ex, clearly that’s worked well. I’m sure Bristol Palin was practicing that when she got pregnant.
– She believes that abortion should be banned regardless of cause or implications of pregnancy.
– Her husband belongs to the Alaskan Independence Party that wants to secede from the union and she supports him in that.
– She believes that more drilling will solve the current crisis around oil, regardless of the fact that we *know* that oil is a limited natural resource and we really are just running out.
– She believes that destroying our natural habitat does not have any effect on the planet, global warming is clearly just liberal jargon.
– She went to four different schools (one of them twice) in six years to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism, yet oddly enough no one at any of the schools can seem to remember her.
– She truly believes that the economic crisis can be fixed by focusing on the small business that “drive” America like that belonging to her family in Alaska.
– Her only political experience is in a state that is not even the size of lower Manhattan and she has no experience on an International scale and in fact has even said she has never thought about foreign policy before.

Now I want to know how many feminists who were supporting Hillary really feel that any of those characteristics listed above would be appealing. For one, Hillary Clinton was very prominent in her college and graduate career as a student and while that may not be the only mark of a great person it is a tribute to her intelligence. I find it disturbing that not even a single professor has a remark about Sarah Palin, it doesn’t matter where you went to school or how long it took you to graduate but certainly remarkable people are remembered for their intelligence. And I, for one, would like to have a remarkable person be in charge of running this country (or even being second in command). Secondly, Hillary Clinton is a senator from a very significant state and has had significant experience with International politics, which is critical for the position of Vice President. How can anyone be expected to take Sarah Palin seriously if she cannot think on a global scale? Let’s face it people, being governor of Alaska isn’t exactly the greatest qualifier out there. I mean to put it simply it’s like saying the manager of your local Walgreens should become the CEO overnight because that’s a good idea.

Perhaps I’m biased but I don’t really believe that Sarah Palin believes a lot in thinking too hard and that is not something I find particularly attractive in a highly public political figure. In fact, I find it wildly distressing to think that someone who may have the possibility of becoming president would be like that. She stands for everything that feminists have fought against. Gloria Steinem, Eve Ensler and Tim Wise have all actually made equally valid points about her view points that I happen to agree with and are perhaps more eloquent than myself.

Sometimes this election makes me think that America is one giant high school and we’re trying to elect our prom king and queen. Clearly the beauty queen has been making her mark and it seems there sure are a lot of people that love her but I’d like to point out that this is not a beauty pagent nor is it a popularity contest. We are electing these people to lead our country and we are currently in a phenomenal economic crisis and we have a war that has been going poorly for years and no end in sight for either of those two. I don’t know about you, but I, personally, would like the most intelligent people I can think of to try and navigate us around those two very significant road blocks. Someone who has not shown much thought for either of those things until the last few weeks, such as Sarah Palin, isn’t really someone I want to trust with that future.