SANDERS: No year to vote style over substance

Not that I would ever want to be vice president of the United States, but I do have more foreign policy experience than one of the current nominees. I’ve spent time in China, Italy, Lebanon and Turkey. Over the years I have met with public officials in Athens, Paris and Palestine.

Then, of course, there are the many visits to Rhome.

Oops! I think I just blew it with that spelling of "Rhome."

In case you haven’t figured it out, all the places I just mentioned are not located outside the United States. Every one is a city in Texas, a state like many others in the country with many towns with the names of foreign locales.

But, frankly, my visits to these exotic Texas cities give me about as much foreign policy credentials as Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s assertion that Alaska’s proximity to Russia qualified her in the area of foreign relations.

That may be overstating it a little bit, but after her Thursday night debate with Democratic VP hopeful Joe Biden, it was quite evident that the Alaskan governor is short on substance and long on style.

We had been warned that she was a quick learner, and she proved that without a doubt — primarily that she had learned the art of obfuscation and evasion.

I do give Palin credit for her stern, folksy performance in which she stood toe-to-toe with "Joe," rising above the bar that had been set incredibly low for the person who is seeking the second-highest job in the land.

She had her talking points and those two or three prepared one-liners and, dad burn it, she was going to deliver them no matter what, even if they weren’t on topic and ignored the moderator’s questions.

The Republican base, which has been energized by Palin’s nomination and her down-home naivete, must be pretty worried that their hope for winning this election lies with a person most Americans had never heard of two months ago.

What does that say about the party’s nominee for president?

You do remember Sen. John McCain, don’t you?

The more people talk about Palin, the less they are mentioning the Arizona senator.

And the more that happens, the more Americans focus on the experience (or lack thereof) of the person who would be "a heartbeat away from the presidency."

That does not bode well for the GOP ticket.

On the St. Louis stage Thursday night, it was quite clear which candidate had the experience, the command of the facts and the genuine passion to not only serve but to help lead this nation in one of the most perilous times in its history.

By no means am I saying that this election is over with still about a month of campaigning left. That can be an eternity in a presidential race.

But at a time when people are hurting, and when they have grown weary of an administration that has failed miserably on all fronts, they are beginning to focus.

As they focus on the real issues, they begin to have a true yearning for change — substantive change, not slogans.

I find it ironic and rather sad that just a few weeks ago a lot of Republican pundits and party mouthpieces ridiculed Democratic nominee Barack Obama and his message of change and hope.

"Just words," they declared.

Now the McCain/Palin campaign, after polls indicated that the Democratic themes were registering, particularly with the middle-class voter, has co-opted that change message. It apparently is not working, though.

During the vice presidential debate, Biden — although accused by his rival of constantly pointing to the past — was effective in showing that the GOP ticket represented more of the same. He did his best to wrap President George W. Bush around McCain’s neck, daring Palin to articulate how another Republican administration would be different from the current one.

She didn’t take that dare.

Those major issues of the economy, healthcare, education and, most of all, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, weigh heavily on the minds of the American people. They want real answers, not just more rhetoric.

The Obama team seems focused, zeroing in on some states that don’t tend to vote for Democrats in national elections. They are appealing to a cross-section of Americans, including a large contingent of young people who have a history of not voting at all.

This is a historic campaign year, with Americans having the opportunity to elect its first black president or its first female vice president.

It is a year in which the country is in dire straits, with many people facing very bleak circumstances.

Because of the situation in which we, as a nation, find ourselves, this certainly is a year when the country can’t afford to vote for style over substance.

It is time for the real thing.

If Sarah Palin doesn’t become vice president this year, she still will have plenty to do in Alaska. Should she ever need a break or need to work on obtaining more public-policy experience, she can always come to Texas and visit Paris and Athens and Turkey and . . .