Yes, but to omit OBOZO was NOT a national figure is a bit misleading. Ditto, w/Pawlenty the other Gov considered by mccain also did NOT have national exposure.
My point is errors of omission can be as damaging as the typical misleading liberal drivel.
When Obama announced he was running for President, most of us knew exactly who he was. Millions of people around the country had already heard of him, had seen him speak. He had campaigned for candidates around the country, he had spoken at events around the country.
Did he deserve to be a national figure? that doesn’t matter — the media had made him a national figure. They had spoken of whether he would run for President, as far back as when he first became a Senator.
He is unqualified to be President; he did nothing really to earn himself a national spotlight. But this isn’t about what should be. The simple fact is that at the time Obama announced his Presidential campaign, he was much more well-known nationally than Sarah Palin was when she was chosen as VP.
BTW, you are correct about Pawlenty. He was not much of a national figure either. He had started to try to build up national credentials though. And as others have explained, it was easy for those in the 48 lower states to build up a national presense, while Palin was constrained by her office and the logistics of flying around the country from Alaska.