"Palin's never met a head of state..."

...issue is about to be put to bed. MSNBC is reporting a series of meetings scheduled for Gov. Palin in New York, that will remedy that problem:

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Palin will meet with the presidents of Iraq, Pakistan, Georgia and the Ukraine, as well as singer and activist Bono during her three-day trip to New York, the McCain campaign announced Sunday.

Palin will meet Wednesday with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilli and Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko together, according to campaign officials. She will then meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari before hosting Bono, the lead singer of U2. Later in the day, she will meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The campaign had previously announced meetings set for Tuesday in New York, including Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Columbian President Alvaro Uribe.

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Yeah, well, the Bono gig is for comic relief, I guess. Now that the Liberals are dissolving in the mud, he's got some spare time. This meeting marathon will pretty much even up the criticism against her "foreign policy experience" (forgetting, of course, her trade delegate experience as governor) putting her on equal footing with that of Obama. Oh yeah, he's running for president.

I never understood the "foreign policy" issue, outside of gotcha politics. Meetings between heads of state are largely symbolic. The real meetings occur between the legions of state officials surrounding both heads. Sometimes directions change as a result of meetings, but more often as not, all they do is set a tone for the meetings of the bureaucrats who ultimately work out the real deals.

Further, the fuss about Palin's experience would be appropriate for a presidential candidate, but she's only the vp nod. I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to bury John McCain just yet. As VP, Palin will have substantial on-the-job training leading into a presidential spot, should McCain buy the farm.

Obama, on the other hand, hits the ground running as POTUS with no foreign policy experience, which means he will be relying on Joe Biden's experience? (just kidding!)