What could he say? We all know the correct answer and that answer wasn’t available to him. He did the best he could with what he had — after twice pretending he didn’t understand her very simple point, of course. Bottom line: Obama’s qualified by his life experience. Which arguably leaves him at an even greater disadvantage vis-a-vis Palin — not to mention John McCain — than would a straight-up battle of political resumes.

Actually, he didn’t really dodge the question the first time, did he? He simply answered it in a way that would apply equally well to Palin herself. Speaking of would-be C-in-C’s, The One has formally abandoned any pretense that the surge didn’t succeed, thereby putting him on the wrong side of every last Democratic talking point on Iraq dating back 18 months as well as the vast majority of nutroots opinion. Exit question: Even if Obama’s life experience doesn’t qualify him to be C-in-C, it’s at least a step towards qualifying him to be Jesus, no?