Editorial: Obama Most Qualified To Be President

This story was written by Editorial Board, Daily Evergreen

Thereare a host of reasons for our decision, the first of which being Sarah Palin is not Obama's running mate. At the very instant John McCain announced Palin as his vice presidential candidate, there was a faint, almost imperceptible gurgle that sounded like, "Nooooo." That death rattle was the sound of McCain's campaign dying.

All kidding aside, Palin was a horrible choice for a running mate. She may be folksy and patriotic, whatever the bastardization of that word means anymore, but she is not qualified to make executive decisions impacting the lives of everyone in this country. What's more, U.S. citizens aren't the only people impacted by the decisions of the president and vice president -just ask Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam, or, oh, we'll just leave it at that.

When worse comes to worse, we don't want a former Alaskan beauty queen's well-manicured finger on the button. It's not like we have never had idiotic vice presidents before, Dan Quayle being the most blatant example of this, but McCain's health and age are an issue. Both have been under constant scrutiny in this race and for a reason. He has battled the most dangerous form of skin cancer and he is 72. It is somewhat unfair to automatically conclude that McCain could not serve as president simply because he is old - we do not support ageism but it is a factor in this election.

Lately, Obama has been getting flak for being a socialist, but this is just another McCain campaign scare tactic designed to prey upon older American's fear of the former Soviet Union. For so many years, American's were taught to be afraid of and hate Russia, and Russians were taught the same. We were taught basically, capitalism good, communism bad.

But Obama doesn't want to nationalize agriculture, industry and the economy. He is not going to become a dictator or dissolve political parties. He simply realizes the world is a different place than it was in 1985. Our economy cannot be understood or controlled using the same methods we have been using. Trickle-down economics do not work, no matter how much we might hope and wish they would.

This election, like every other, is about priorities. It's the programs the candidate values that get money. Education, healthcare and foreign policy are important to Obama and because of this, his policy reflects these priorities.

Neither Obama nor McCain are bad men. Neither is evil. Neither has master plans to take over the world, raze the Middle East or create a classless American society. Neither is unqualified for the job - they are two of the most qualified people in the country.

When it comes down to it though, Obama is the most qualified.

He will do more to make this country equitable. He will ensure more children receive higher quality educations. He will make quality health care available to more Americans, because everyone is entitled to health. He will make our tax system fairer and simpler.

But more importantly, Obama will take steps to fix our economic problems and most importantly of all- he will ensure this kind of economic crisis, and the resulting burden it places upon average American, will not happen again.