Vice Presidential Candidates

On August 23, 2008, US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced that Senator Joseph Biden would be his running mate for the 2008 election. Six days later, the Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced Sarah Palin would be his running mate. Since these two announcements have been made, there has been much debate about who will make a better US vice president. Claims have been made, from the Democratic Party, of course, that Biden is much more qualified than Palin. This is mainly due to the fact that Palin, age 44, has only been a state Governor (Alaska) since December 4, 2006, whereas Biden has been serving in the US Senate for 36 years.

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska agrees with and supports McCain on all of his views, and has several strong ones of her own. She believes in capital punishment, is pro-life, is a long-term member of the National Rifle Association, and has strongly promoted oil resource development in Alaska by means of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Palin also denies that global warming may be occurring.

Senator Joe Biden of Delaware has very different views from Sarah Palin. He is pro-choice, and he voted against criminal penalties for harming unborn fetuses. Biden has also vocalized the need to get our troops out of Iraq soon in order to save the economy and end the war. He voted against Sarah Palin’s plan to drill in the ANWR and is working on making global warming something all Americans are aware of and sensitive to. He has also voted against many attempts to change the law to allow every American to own a gun without having a background check. Biden is working towards expanding health care benefits and promotes universal health care.

The two vice presidential candidates have very little in common, and do not share the same political views at all. It seems clear from the two presidential candidate’s choices that America with Barack Obama will change drastically from our world with George W. Bush. It is arguable that McCain, if elected, will not do much about the suffering US economy or the planet for that matter, or promoting the use of renewable energy. That sounds strikingly similar to the current Bush administration. Aren’t Americans ready for a change? I think we should all remember that in the event something should happen to the US president, and he can no longer fulfill his presidential responsibilities, the torch will be passed to the vice president. So consider, who would you have more faith in, an ex-beauty pageant queen or a sixth term senator?