Raising Two Americans

Take a look at these two pictures. First this one …

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin meets Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday in New York.

… and then this one …

Colombian pop singer Shakira meets with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, right, and El Salvador's President Tony Saca, not pictured, during a conference Wednesday on childhood poverty and development at Columbia University in New York.

I just found this ironic, I guess. This week is the first time Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has met heads of state from other countries. And here’s a pop star doing the same thing … only she’s been doing it for years.

And if you can’t tell, in the picture, she’s answering questions from the media. If Palin had her way, the media wouldn’t have even been around for her meetings. (read)

As a UNICEF ambassador and the founder of the Pies Descalzos Foundation, this is the third year in a row Shakira has been involved in the United Nations’ conference with numerous heads of state.

In 2007, she gave $40 million to the Clinton Global Initiative to care for victims of natural disasters worldwide. She gave an additional $5 million to be split between four Latin American countries for education and heath purposes.

Earlier this year, she spoke before U.S. Congress (something Palin has never done), met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick, all in the name of the Global Campaign for Education.

Palin? Well she can see Russia from her house, or something like that.

Obviously, Shakira could never be vice president … she’s no American citizen. And I’m not saying Palin should have been undertaking the humanitarian efforts Shakira has. She’s the governor of Alaska, not a philanthropist.

But, it says something that Palin has far less experience dealing with world leaders than a singer that many would simply write off as a sex symbol. And I think any one who refuses to admit that Palin’s choice as John McCain’s running mate is suspect is being dishonest.

This entry was posted on September 25, 2008 at 3:53 am and is filed under Music, Politics with tags Clinton Global Initiative, Global Campaign for Education, Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain, Shakira, UNICEF. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.