Lilly LeClair of Princeton
Certainly anyone even semi-concerned with the United States presidential race has if not seen, then heard something about Katie Couric’s interview with Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin featured on CBS.
Despite the range of emotions I experienced during the two-part interview, one comment in particular resonated with me personally, and gave me a fearful realization that someone so clueless could be stepping into the second highest position in this country.
When asked by Ms. Couric if she had demonstrated a lack of interest and curiosity in the world by not applying for a passport until last year, when her job required it, Gov. Palin responded with:
”I’m not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say, ‘Go off and travel the world.’ No, I’ve worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. The way that I have understood the world is through education, through books, through mediums that have provided me a lot of perspective on the world.”
Gov. Palin gave me the ammunition I needed. See, I am a traveler, and I take the subject seriously. Travel is a tremendous obsession for many people, and those who are lucky enough to have it (you know who you are), work hard to make it a priority. To insinuate that people who have a well-worn passport were given the opportunity only because their parents pushed and provided for them is incredibly small-minded, and reminds us again of Gov. Palin’s sheltered naiveté.
Yet Gov. Palin chooses to blame her lack of travel experience on her middle-class upbringing. Traveling has no reference to class status. Sure, money is a big part of travel, but so is purchasing a car, a house, or perhaps moose-hunting equipment. We choose a goal, and save the pennies until we make it happen. What Gov. Palin needs to admit is that she simply doesn’t yearn to travel, and is decades behind other candidates when it comes to first-hand knowledge of the world.
While travel experience is not one of the resume requirements of vice president, it should be. Certainly you can read about places in the world, as Gov. Palin claims she has done, but you cannot truly learn about a culture and its people until you have experienced it in the flesh. Any traveler will tell you that.
These are extremely difficult times in our country and world around us, and now more than ever, we need an administration in the White House who has spot-on global instinct, and awareness. I knew I was not voting for the McCain/Palin ticket before, but now I have a personal reason for speaking out against them. I cannot allow myself to vote for this self-proclaimed armchair traveler.
Lilly LeClair
Princeton

