Game Change - Chloe Hain

1.Why is political vetting so important?

Political vetting is extremely important when looking for the right Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, the candidates must be popular among the people as well as knowledgeable when it comes to current and relevant issues. Sarah Palin is a great example of a candidate who was very popular among the people as a person, but had relatively no political education whatsoever. Vetting can point out a candidate’s flaws before the fact of selecting them to officially run. It is really important to know that a politician is educated enough to actually be in charge of whatever they are running to become, if they do not have the skills or prerequisites to become President or Vice President, then they should be eliminated from the race. However, in some elections the social appearance is more important than the actual level of education that a candidate has. For example, Donald Trump seems to know little about what a President’s responsibilities are or how a democratic government functions, but because he had such a revolutionary campaign of change, he gained a large enough following to win the election.

3.Does a POTUS or a VPOTUS need to be highly knowledgeable about all issues associated with their offices or should they rely on the staffs to provide information to answer questions?

I think that Presidential or Vice Presidential candidates absolutely should have a strong education in governmental issues and have actual stances on policy matters. It is highly immature and unprofessional to rely on staff to tell you how to do your job. I think that it is definitely necessary to have staff brief you on information, but they should not be your only source of information like Sarah Palin’s staff were to her in the McCain-Palin 2008 campaign. In my opinion, if you actually have the drive to become POTUS or VPOTUS then chances are that you do have a knowledge of politics. The people with more education and experience are more qualified than those who run for office as a publicity stunt.