Obama Slams Palin As "Lacking In Foreign Policy Experience"

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Reacting to Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) announcement of his running mate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) made an argument on Friday pundits said he was unlikely to make: that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lacked foreign policy experience.

"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in an emailed statement.

"Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies -- that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same," he added.

House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) also said that McCain made a "very risky" choice. "Being thrust on a national stage like that could be very tough...I just think that it is very risky for McCain to do this, but it may be all he has left," he told South Carolina ETV Radio..

Obama is a first-term senator who has had to fight off criticisms that he is too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief. He announced last week that he had chosen Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) as his running mate, confirming speculation by pundits that he would settle on the six-term senator known for his foreign policy expertise.

McCain announced on Friday that he had chosen Palin as his running mate.

Palin is Alaska's first female and youngest governor. She won the gubernatorial election in 2006 on a reform platform after serving as mayor Wasilla. She currently enjoys high approval ratings despite a state investigation of allegations that she used her position to try to get her former brother-in-law dismissed from his job as a state trooper.

Palin, a 44-year-old mother of five, opposes same-sex marriages and abortion just like McCain.

Her work as governor include an aggressive ethics reform bill and vetos against earmarks to cut back on public spending, one of her pledges during her campaign. She has also proposed a measure to award a $30 billion contract to build a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope to a Calgary energy company, TransCAnada Corp., instead of the big oil producers such as BP PLC and ConocoPhillips.

By choosing Palin, McCain is apparently seeking to win over the support of women, a constituency of Obama. He is also, according to pundits, trying to burnish his reputation as a maverick in Washington. Palin has been described in reports as a "rebel" for challenging the Republican establishment in her state. She has called for the ouster of Rep. Don Young (R-AK), one of several officials implicated in the VECO Corp. corruption controversy.