"Sarah Palin ahead of where Obama was 30 months before his nomination." Umm, what?

I came across something interesting terrifying horribly misleading today. A blogger from the LA Times reported that Sarah Palin is apparently ahead of where Barack Obama was 30 months before his nomination as the Democratic candidate for president. Let's take a closer look:

A recent Washington Post/ABC News Poll found that 30 months out from the 2012 party presidential nominations, only 71% of Americans believe that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president.

This compares with someone named Barack Obama. At the same point in his then unannounced campaign, 0% thought he was qualified for the Oval Office. That's because he wasn't even on the polling lists' radar then.

"Only 71%" believe that Palin is NOT QUALIFIED to be president? How is that better than not being in the poll? Note that saying 71% believing she's not qualified does NOT mean than the other 29% believe she IS qualified, considering polls like that tend to give the option of "don't know" or some such. The post didn't link the poll results directly, so I'm not sure what the choices were. Some very quick Googling didn't reveal the exact poll parameters or results, but if anyone finds them, please let me know!

(More after the jump)




First, a few things I want to get straight. I tend to be a more liberal person, and yes, I voted for Barack Obama. I definitely thought he was a better candidate than McCain, who threw all of his ideals under the bus to get the nomination and then in the run-up to the election. Am I satisfied with Obama so far? Well, I'm not ecstatic. I think he's been far too timid and I'm sure the reality of trying to get stuff done in Washington hit him harder than he expected. Some of the lack of accomplishments so far I blame on Congress moreso than President Obama, considering democrats can't agree on anything to get stuff done and Republicans just say no whenever they hear a proposal that's not from their side. But Obama has been less clear on his proposals than he could have been, and he hasn't really tried to lead Congress as much as he should have on such big issues. I'd love to see him be more aggressive, and we have a few more years to see how he copes.

But I digress... back to Palin it is! Sarah Palin quit her 1st term as governor after 2.5 years to promote her book and be a part-time pundit on Fox News. I know people give Obama flak for him being a 1st term senator, but he left that job to become president, not just to make millions of dollars being a media darling! If anything, I found the fact that 71% of Americans believe Palin is NOT qualified to be president rather encouraging, though I'd love to see that number higher. She is, in my opinion, one of the worst political figures we've seen in a long time. She knows nothing and her popularity is entirely due to her folksy persona and her ability to repeat empty talking points that people want to hear. Her appearance at the Tea Party Convention (Hand-O-Prompter shown below) was an absolute joke. And honestly, I think if she continues with her celebrity gig like she has been, the number of people who think she is NOT qualified to be president will only increase. You cannot claim to be ready for the job of president of the United States when you quit your job as governor just more than halfway through your term so you can be a celebrity on television. This obsession with Sarah Palin as some sort of "new wave" politician absolutely boggles my mind.


Sarah Palin's Hand-O-Prompter