“It is dramatically different,” said Durbin, a Democrat from Springfield. “It isn’t even close.”
Nor does Durbin agree with the characterization that Palin’s experience as governor means she is more prepared than the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden to take over as vice president or, if needed, as president.
“How you could possibly draw a parallel between that experience as Alaska governor and being a vice president or even president of the United States is a stretch, as far as I’m concerned,” he said
Rich covers the basic problem well:
That’s just a blatant insult to Alaska. Yes, it has fewer residents than Lake County. But remember what Barack Obama said just last week in Denver? “Change doesn’t come from Washington, it comes to Washington.” This tack by Durbin just doesn’t jibe with last week’s message.
But it’s deeper than that. It’s not that she’s just the Governor of Alaska, it’s that she appears to have no background on foreign policy whatsoever, no background on defense issues, no background on anything besides social conservative issues and oil. Being Governor of Alaska could be a fine place to springboard from using it as a tool to learn those issues and expand one’s background. Palin has done nothing of the sort.