Shafer Dissects

Jack Shafer is at his analogical best in his postmortem on the Gibson-Palin interview extravaganza:

Palin attempts to fake it for 25 seconds with a swirl of generalities before Gibson, showing all the gentleness of a remedial social studies teacher, interjects.

Later:

But she can't answer the question, and she won't dismiss it. Instead she slows the interview to a crawl again, dribbling and dribbling the ball but refusing to take the shot.

The interview showcases a big difference between Obama and Palin. Both are riding higher than their résumé would warrant in part because of a celebrity-type public fascination, and neither has the ideal amount of experience, but experience and preparedness are different. Obama's never given such a shallow, uninformed answer to such an important question. Maybe it was just nerves or a desire to avoid slamming the president, but flailing on the Bush Doctrine raises some enormous questions.