Is Sarah Palin Qualified to Be President?

For about the last month, the great "gotcha" question from the press has been to ask people if they think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president. It created quite a controversy for Joe Miller in his senate race, and was also recently asked of Bob McDonnell. Dick Cranwell, the chair of the DPVA, even sent out an e-mail proving McDonnell was radical because he thought Palin was qualified to be president.

The question of whether Palin is qualified to be president is meaningless. The qualifications for president are simple. You have to be a U.S. resident, and at least 35. Has Palin met these? Unquestionably. Beyond that she has served as governor of the largest state in America, and the VP candidate for a major political party. To quote Rudy Giuliani, "The reality is she's got a hell of a lot more qualifications than Barack Obama had when he ran for president."

Is Sarah Palin the person we want as president, and as our party's nominee? That is another debate, and one that will be had through the primary season if she chooses to run. Let's stop discrediting her, and marginalizing her as someone not even qualified to run for president.

Anyone who meets the Article II Section 1 requirements in the U.S. Constitution is qualified to run. Anyone who has accomplished as much as she has, deserves to be taken seriously. Whether she wins depends on the case she can make to the American people, and whether that message resonates with them.