“This writer is a qualified supporter of Barack Obama. We often find our self in difficult political water – we are socially liberal and economically conservative – so there is rarely a candidate with whom we totally agree. It is with sadness that we watch the GOP leadership trying to support McCain’s choice of Vice President while remaining true to their own personal integrity. The really great leaders of the GOP are forced into the awkward position of defending a choice they do not agree with.”

No where in our society are you going to find a candidate that matches your needs, your desires, your wants unless you run for office yourself. And even then, you will find that you cannot create the changes to obtain the results you want since you are limited by the voters, the Congress, and the responsibilities of the President itself. Bush couldn’t do it. Clinton couldn’t do it. Even Reagan and Washington couldn’t do it. So I wouldn’t worry about finding a candidate that you “agree with.” However, what your wants and desires are isn’t what the Presidential race is all about.

What you should be looking for in a President is not someone who shares your views, but someone who is capable of running an operation while overseeing the middle management (Congress and Federal Departments). Their job is to make the hard choices, especially when they are not popular. In the views of Republicans and McCain supporters, Obama hasn’t been around long enough to make those hard decisions or to manage an operation, or at least not to the level of McCain (or Palin for that matter).

This is why Obama had only two real choices when he selected his VP: Hillary or Biden. Both picks slap in the face of his primary campaign message of bringing change to old Washington, since both candidates are poster-children of old Washington. But it was a contradicition he had to make in order to shore up the weaknesses in his campaign, giving him ‘depth’ and experience on national and international issues.

McCain’s weaknesses were not on experience, but were youth and “conservative credentials.” The mere fact that McCain won the nomination is a contradiction to many views of the Republican cores values, so picking Palin was a way to soften his image. So it isn’t that the GOP was placed into an awkward position of having to defend Palin, but rather they sighed in relief by not having to defend both McCain and someone else who isn’t inline with the core beliefs, such as Joe Lieberman.

So, to conclude, I don’t think the GOP has anything to worry about when it comes to Palin’s ability to stand on her own and to champion the values of Conservatives while supporting McCain in the #2 position of VP. And by the numerous cheers of genuine joy last night following Palin’s speech, her party has accepted her on the national scene, and as a result, are now accepting McCain truly as their nominee; removing many of the doubts and concerns that were floating around him.

Keep up the good work!