Here's the thing about Palin: she's likeable enough. You can see that she is sincere in her beliefs and tries to live up to her ideals. Those things were true of "heck of a job, Brownie," too. The question isn't how likeable or sincere a candidate might be unless she is also qualified. Last night, at the Republican convention, they made a monumental effort to deprecate Obama's qualifications to be president because that's really the meat of the difference between Palin and Obama.

Palin may scoff at Obama's "ivy league" education - let her insinuate all she likes about elitism, but education does matter. For purposes of governance, education in law is more appropriate than education in acting. Oh, I know the Republicans are going to short, "What about Reagan?" To which I say, yes, what about Reagan? It was his administration that set the tone for the disasters facing us today.

And while Palin's mayoral term of a small town in Alaska may have done a great deal for her confidence level, it doesn't translate to the complexities of dealing with a large and diverse constituency as Obama did as state senator in Illinois. Giuliani may try to dismiss that experience as Obama's training by the "corrupt political machine" of Chicago - and he's a man who knows corruption - but in fact Obama was elected by the people, not the machine, and he served them well.

In one especially jarring note, Palin attempted to devalue Obama's years as a community organizer as laughable, thereby deprecating all those dedicated souls who labor for small or for no pay, but for great reward, for the common good. If all the community organizers stopped performing their duties - their "actual responsibilities" - this great nation would grind to an immediate halt.

But we know how Republicans feel about community. They can't comprehend doing anything for the common good and especially doing it for little pay. Money trumps compassion every time. Just consider Palin's line item veto a few months ago of housing for pregnant teens. Yeah, ironic isn't it?

Being governor of Alaska - a state with fewer than 700,000 people - is a good beginning for Palin. She may eventually become a formidable political force, but she's not there yet, and attempting to equalize the field between herself and Obama by tearing him down to her level isn't going to change that. It's going to take more than likeability to dig us out of the morass of economic and political disaster which the Bush years have created. Frankly, we, the people, have had enough of the Brownies and the Gonzaleses, the Rumsfelds and the Roves whose political corpses litter the Republican landscape. We'd rather have competence than likeability if that's our only choice. Fortunately, with Obama/Biden, it's not: we can have both.