By Dr. Walid Muhammad al Saadi

Translated By A. Sullivan

September 12th, 2008


Jordan - Al Rai - Original Article (Arabic)

U.S. Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s choice of Ms Sarah Palin as his running mate in the coming November election is rife with risk.

For starters, Palin is unknown to most Americans, even though she has been governor of Alaska since 2006. She is an extreme conservative on several issues, especially those which concern women, which distances her from moderate Republicans, let alone the Democrats whose support McCain is courting. Despite Palin’s strong record against corruption and the domination of major companies, she is nonetheless completely opposed to abortion in principle, which has cost her a great many votes from women, who tend to give women the freedom of choice within the limits of the law. Similarly, she is a supporter of the right to bear arms, and is a member of the National Rifle Association at a time when most Americans have become convinced that bearing arms encourages crime; and she is accordingly anti-environmentalist, especially with respect to building a natural gas pipeline across Alaska, which bothers a number of Americans who prefer to keep Alaska, the largest U.S. state, as a nature preserve free from sources of pollution. But what is riskiest is that Palin is completely lacking in experience in international politics and several politicians question how this woman can fill the vacant seat of the nation’s President should McCain die during his term, especially given that he is over 72 years old and after four years in power he will be at a very advanced age and vulnerable to health risks.

On this basis, McCain has decided to be adventurous, perhaps reckoning that the positives of her nomination outweigh the negatives, and he might have knowledge which supports the success of this escapade, although it is clear even now that the negatives outweigh the positives. Had McCain chosen another person, female or male, more worldly and experienced in politics, then his success in the coming election would have been more certain. Despite this, there are new indicators on the national stage in the U.S. and worldwide which support the Republican candidate in the coming elections, among the most notable being the return of some quiet and stability in Iraq, improved American economic performance, reduction in the price of oil, and an increase in the value of the dollar versus other major currencies.

In the meantime, the Democratic candidate Barack Obama and his vice presidential nominee Joe Biden continue to solidify the political momentum they gained in the recent Democratic convention held in Denver, Colorado, against the backdrop of repeated speculation that Obama has become the invincible candidate for president of the United States of America.