Palin's performance fails to reassure
Perhaps Mr. Pratt of Arlington Heights (Fence Post, Oct. 4) is more perceptive than the rest of us.
I did not see Gov. Sarah Palin outshine Sen. Joe Biden during the recent vice presidential candidate debate.
I observed the GOP VP candidate brilliantly exceed the artificially low expectations that the McCain-Palin campaign desperately sought to establish for her during the weeks leading up to the debate.
The problem is that the U.S. is not a country of low expectations; it is a country of high expectations.
As for the accuracy of her and Sen. Biden's responses and who won the debate, every news outlet has already beaten that to death and now anyone can chose an outlet whose findings match the candidate of their choice.
My 17-year old daughter watched the debate as part of a civic class assignment. She, and a significant number of her high school peers, noted that Palin recited many answers mechanically, as if from memory, without really understanding the question.
Funny how teenagers would pick up on something like this, isn't it?
My next-door neighbor watched the Alaska governor evade the moderator's questions when she did not feel like answering or was unable to answer.
Instead, Ms. Palin went on to talk about things she thought the "American people" should hear.
We all agreed that if this was a job interview, who among us would hire an applicant who refused to answer our questions, but went on diatribes of their own?
I am concerned about this election and have serious doubts about both senators McCain and Obama. That leaves the two VP candidates, Biden and Palin, as deciding factors.
Those of us who are old enough to remember Nov. 22, 1963 know that presidential succession is not a theoretical occurrence.
When weighing the qualifications to lead this country, I am certainly far more comfortable with Biden taking over as president, instead of Mr. Pratt's choice of someone whose real world experience is limited to the soccer field or hockey arena.
Bill Pohnan Jr.
Streamwood