A Chat with Sarah Palin

This is one of the most interesting campaigns I’ve followed. Denver, Colorado. Sarah Palin was there. The woman that attracts thousands of Republican followers to campaign events all across the United States, as well as the most offensive criticism from her adversaries.

Last weekend was a perfect example of this political figure who simultaneously attracts and repels. Saturday night more than 14 million people tuned into “Saturday Night Live” on NBC to watch the actress Tina Fey imitate Palin to perfection. It was a record audience.

Just a few hours later, on Sunday morning, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said on national television that he didn’t think Palin would be prepared to be Vice President of the United States and announced his support for Barack Obama.

“We are very surprised by that support (of Powell for Obama),” said the 44 year-old governor. And later she told me that she was very excited that John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, had the support of another four former Secretaries of State. “That means a lot.”

Sarah Palin does not think her candidacy has negatively affected McCain’s goal to reach the White House. “I think I add something positive to the campaign,” she answered with a smile. And later she made a list for me of her experience as mayor, governor, small-business owner and her efforts to impose order and regulation in a state that produces energy for the rest of the country.

“The executive experience I have is greater than that of Barack Obama.” The candidate also reaffirmed her accusation that Obama has “worked in tandem with an ex-terrorist in the United States.” And even though she avoided calling him a “socialist,” she told me she understands why some voters could think that.

This is not new. And so, the direct attacks on Obama have become a constant in almost all of McCain and Palin’s campaign events. What is new is listening to the Alaskan Governor talk about undocumented immigrants.

“How many undocumented immigrants are there in Alaska?” I asked her. “I don’t know, I don’t know,” she answered. “That’s a good question.”

Palin does not agree with giving amnesty to the 12 or 13 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. “No, I do not agree, there should not be complete amnesty,” she told me. However, she does not agree that they should be deported either. “There is no way to arrest all of those without documentation…It’s impossible and, moreover, not a moral way of leading on this topic.”

Palin, like McCain, proposes to first reinforce the border with Mexico so less undocumented immigrants can cross. And once that is accomplished, undocumented immigrants that have not committed crimes should be offered the opportunity to legalize their immigrant status.

Sarah Palin has traveled to Mexico three times. She has been in Puerto Vallarta for vacation, but she is convinced that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, the United States and Canada should not be renegotiated, as Barack Obama has suggested. “We should not renegotiate NAFTA at this time,” adding, “that is very dangerous.”

In New York, the governor recently met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, but when I asked if approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Colombia should be delayed until the country stops or lessens current human rights violations, as reported by Human Rights Watch Americas, she had no doubts.

“I support the North American Free Trade Agreement (with Colombia),” she told me. “We shouldn’t be frightened by free trade treaties. On the contrary, they make us work more and the competition is good for everyone.”

She does not believe that it is necessary to meet with Raúl and Fidel Castro with no strings attached. “I hope to visit a free Cuba,” she explained. “What the Castro brothers should do is leave.”

Over the course of a speech in Wisconsin, I heard the candidate call Hugo Chávez a “dictator.” And I asked her if she excused the use of military force against the current Venezuelan government and she said yes. “Military action should be a last resort,” asserted the mother of a soldier, Track, who is currently fighting in Iraq. “We hate the war. We want peace. By means of negotiations and sanctions, we want to put pressure on dictators like Hugo Chávez to make them realize that they shouldn’t meddle with the United States as they have been doing.”

Palin, in less than two months, has become part of pop culture in the United States. There are dolls with her name and her eyeglasses are out of stock. And at the end of the interview, as a result, I asked to her dismay if she had become a celebrity.

“That has nothing to do with me on a personal level,” she concluded. “I know what’s going on here. People want change, a new vision, new energy, new faces…That has nothing to do with me, it is what Americans want.”