President Barack Obama on Thursday made clear he was not going to take advice from Republican Sarah Palin when it comes to decisions about the U.S. nuclear arsenal.Which is exactly what he should have said. Sarah Palin keeps running around with her "I'm an everyday American hockey mom" persona. The downside of that sales pitch is that it stresses just how unqualified Sarah Palin is outside of being an everyday American hockey mom.
Palin, the former vice presidential candidate, has not been shy about criticizing Obama's policies and this week weighed in on his revamped nuclear strategy, saying it was like a child in a playground who says 'punch me in the face, I'm not going to retaliate.'
"I really have no response to that. The last I checked, Sarah Palin is not much of an expert on nuclear issues," Obama said in an interview with ABC News.
Pressed further on Republican criticism that his strategy restricts the use of nuclear weapons too much, Obama added: "What I would say to them is, is that if the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff are comfortable with it, I'm probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin."
The notion that Sarah Palin has anything worthwhile to add to this particular debate, much less calling out the President, Defense Secretary Gates, and Adm. Mullen of the Joint Chiefs on this, is ludicrous. What I want to know is why ABC News is bothering to ask the President at all what he thinks of the opinion of a failed half-term governor whose experience as a chief executive resulted directly in her quitting. She gets to have her opinion like anybody else in America...but in what universe is that opinion important enough to care about?
Good for Obama dismissing Palin out of hand. It's a trend I'd like to see continued.