An Independent Woman Says NO

My name is Robin B, and I am 54 years old. I am a graduate of Stanford University and the U. of Idaho College of Law. After 27 years of full-time law practice (six as an in-house corporate lawyer, eight in a major Northwest regional law firm, first as an associate and then as a partner, and the remainder in a two-person firm with my husband as a real estate development lawyer), I retired on December 31, 2007. Since I first became eligible to vote, I have been registered as an Independent. I have voted for both Republican and Democratic candidates, and I have never been a "single-issue" voter but, rather, have typically evaluated each candidate and his or her positions on all issues in determining my voting choice. I have two children, a 19-year-old daughter in her first year of college, and a 17-year-old son who is a senior in high school. My husband, who is 60, retired when I did, and we are looking forward to this new chapter in our lives.

John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate diminishes and trivializes all that I have worked for and accomplished in my professional life. The choice strikes me as a cynical ploy to attract female and Christian-right voters without regard to Ms. Palin's ability or qualifications to service as Vice President and, if necessary, President. From personal experience, I know that there are innumerable women in the legal profession who excelled in first-rung colleges and in law school, who are superior lawyers and who have full and rich family lives in the best American tradition. I feel certain that there is a large pool of Republican women in this country, amenable to serving in public office, who have comparable qualifications in their chosen field. I don't see Sarah Palin as being in that talent pool. She appears, instead, to have been chosen for her looks, her cheer-leader personae, her ability to "spin" her own story, her ability to lacerate "enemies" with inaccuracies, and her knee-jerk positions on issues that deserve and need an approach that is as thoughtful and as complicated as the U.S. electorate.

If you are going to choose a woman to do a job in this country, choose her for her qualifications. The potential candidates are virtually unlimited.
-Robin B., 54, Portland, OR