Obama's Camp Are Palin' In Comparison
August 31st 2008 22:23
Wow.
That’s all you could hear coming from my house on Friday night when it became apparent that little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin had come from nowhere to clinch the GOP VP nomination. Just… wow. And not a bad wow, don’t get me wrong. A surprised wow? Yes. A surprised wow that in short order transformed itself into a WOW of excitement. Now THAT is one way to energise a flagging base and take the heat off Obama’s lack-lustre convention speech. I’d heard whispers early in the running that Palin was rumoured to be a contender. But most of that speculation was easily tossed aside. McCain had, at that point, abandoned his traditional reputation as a maverick and was conforming to typical Republican party politics all over the place. And with Romney and Pawlenty acting as his surrogate all over the TV and radio and town meetings… Well, it seemed like our lovely Governor of the North had been told better luck next time. But just when you thought McCain had become the establishment, he pulls one out of the hat. Touché, Senator. Touché.
The first anyone knew of Palin being in the running was word on the street late Thursday night, U.S. time. Insiders had seen a private plane belonging to a McCain campaign contributor land in a small town outside Dayton, Ohio, where the VP nomination was to be revealed. Coming off the plane? A woman and two teenagers. That’s not too strange, but none of the front runners HAD two teenage children and the likelihood that McCain would fly a private jet to Alaska to pick up a candidates wife and children. Alaska? Oh yeah. The starting point for the private jet was Anchorage. Almost immediately the world turned on its head. McCain played this one exceptionally close to his chest. He even employed some Siegfried and Roy techniques, using Romney and Pawlenty for misdirection right up until the last day. Not that he needed misdirection. No one in their right mind though McCain would give the nod to a first-term female Governor from Alaska whom he only met once, by the way. The very idea seemed… Forced. It was unbelievable almost to the point she walked out on stage with him. Even then I thought the wily old thing was going to pull a fast one and say “Fooled you!” dragging Romney out of the crowd at the last minute.
It wasn’t to be and McCain-Palin is due to be confirmed any day now. Good choice? You bet. A lot is being made of Palin’s relative inexperience. She has been a Governor for two years and served on Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 2002, winning two terms as Mayor between 1996 and 2002. Between her stint in local politics and her run at Governor she served on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. She chaired that Commission between 2003 and 2004, also serving as Ethics Supervisor. If we are talking about experience in relative terms, that is not so bad. Compare to Barack Obama. Served in the Illinois State Senate for eight years before moving to the U.S. Senate in 2004. Started running for President in 2006. In comparison, it is a bit rich to say Palin isn’t experienced. Especially since Obama is the one running for President on the platform of youth and change. To say she has no right to be there because she doesn’t have experience… Well, it’s called shooting yourself in the foot. At least Palin has had jobs where you know what they specifically are. She’s not the one saying that her qualifications are that she was a “community organiser”.
In her two years as Governor, Palin has also passed more legislation than Obama can credit to his name. Before starting his tilt at the Presidency, Obama had sponsored or co-sponsored a total of 131 bills since January 4, 2005. Of this 131, 118 (or 90%) remain in committee. Only two bills have been enacted in law. That is four years in the U.S. Senate. On the other hand, let’s look at Palin’s two years as Governor in Alaska. Since late 2006, Palin has passed a tax increase on oil company profits, created a committee on climate change, cleaned the Alaskan Government of corruption instituted by her Republican predecessor, facilitated the construction of a gas pipeline for Alaska, scuttled the Bridge to Nowhere pork-barrel project and vetoed a bill that would have denied health benefits to the partners of gay state employees. She sure has been busy, and it hasn’t been campaigning across the country like certain US Senators.
The fact is, Palin is as qualified to be President as Barack Obama is. What is beside the point is that she is running for VP, not President like Obama. Sure, something could happen to McCain. But when it comes down to it, a vote for Obama is a vote for inexperience from the get go, while a vote for McCain is a vote for inexperience if the worst were to happen. If inexperience is so big of an issue, that works directly against Obama. What Palin has is a bundle load of executive experience, and she represents the only one of the four running in this election that comes from outside the DC Beltway. A focus on those aspects will surely negate any question of experience or inexperience brought up by Barack Obama who, in his quest for change, seems to think that what will effect change is more of the same. He calls Sarah Palin, from outside DC and in many ways from outside the system, more of the same. Coming from someone who picked Joe Biden as a running mate, it comes off a bit rich.
It will be interesting to watch how Sarah Palin handles herself throughout the campaign. She is a reformer at heart. She reformed Wasilla Council. She reformed the Alaskan State Government. We can only hope she will reform this campaign as well.
That’s all you could hear coming from my house on Friday night when it became apparent that little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin had come from nowhere to clinch the GOP VP nomination. Just… wow. And not a bad wow, don’t get me wrong. A surprised wow? Yes. A surprised wow that in short order transformed itself into a WOW of excitement. Now THAT is one way to energise a flagging base and take the heat off Obama’s lack-lustre convention speech. I’d heard whispers early in the running that Palin was rumoured to be a contender. But most of that speculation was easily tossed aside. McCain had, at that point, abandoned his traditional reputation as a maverick and was conforming to typical Republican party politics all over the place. And with Romney and Pawlenty acting as his surrogate all over the TV and radio and town meetings… Well, it seemed like our lovely Governor of the North had been told better luck next time. But just when you thought McCain had become the establishment, he pulls one out of the hat. Touché, Senator. Touché.
The first anyone knew of Palin being in the running was word on the street late Thursday night, U.S. time. Insiders had seen a private plane belonging to a McCain campaign contributor land in a small town outside Dayton, Ohio, where the VP nomination was to be revealed. Coming off the plane? A woman and two teenagers. That’s not too strange, but none of the front runners HAD two teenage children and the likelihood that McCain would fly a private jet to Alaska to pick up a candidates wife and children. Alaska? Oh yeah. The starting point for the private jet was Anchorage. Almost immediately the world turned on its head. McCain played this one exceptionally close to his chest. He even employed some Siegfried and Roy techniques, using Romney and Pawlenty for misdirection right up until the last day. Not that he needed misdirection. No one in their right mind though McCain would give the nod to a first-term female Governor from Alaska whom he only met once, by the way. The very idea seemed… Forced. It was unbelievable almost to the point she walked out on stage with him. Even then I thought the wily old thing was going to pull a fast one and say “Fooled you!” dragging Romney out of the crowd at the last minute.
It wasn’t to be and McCain-Palin is due to be confirmed any day now. Good choice? You bet. A lot is being made of Palin’s relative inexperience. She has been a Governor for two years and served on Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 2002, winning two terms as Mayor between 1996 and 2002. Between her stint in local politics and her run at Governor she served on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. She chaired that Commission between 2003 and 2004, also serving as Ethics Supervisor. If we are talking about experience in relative terms, that is not so bad. Compare to Barack Obama. Served in the Illinois State Senate for eight years before moving to the U.S. Senate in 2004. Started running for President in 2006. In comparison, it is a bit rich to say Palin isn’t experienced. Especially since Obama is the one running for President on the platform of youth and change. To say she has no right to be there because she doesn’t have experience… Well, it’s called shooting yourself in the foot. At least Palin has had jobs where you know what they specifically are. She’s not the one saying that her qualifications are that she was a “community organiser”.
In her two years as Governor, Palin has also passed more legislation than Obama can credit to his name. Before starting his tilt at the Presidency, Obama had sponsored or co-sponsored a total of 131 bills since January 4, 2005. Of this 131, 118 (or 90%) remain in committee. Only two bills have been enacted in law. That is four years in the U.S. Senate. On the other hand, let’s look at Palin’s two years as Governor in Alaska. Since late 2006, Palin has passed a tax increase on oil company profits, created a committee on climate change, cleaned the Alaskan Government of corruption instituted by her Republican predecessor, facilitated the construction of a gas pipeline for Alaska, scuttled the Bridge to Nowhere pork-barrel project and vetoed a bill that would have denied health benefits to the partners of gay state employees. She sure has been busy, and it hasn’t been campaigning across the country like certain US Senators.
The fact is, Palin is as qualified to be President as Barack Obama is. What is beside the point is that she is running for VP, not President like Obama. Sure, something could happen to McCain. But when it comes down to it, a vote for Obama is a vote for inexperience from the get go, while a vote for McCain is a vote for inexperience if the worst were to happen. If inexperience is so big of an issue, that works directly against Obama. What Palin has is a bundle load of executive experience, and she represents the only one of the four running in this election that comes from outside the DC Beltway. A focus on those aspects will surely negate any question of experience or inexperience brought up by Barack Obama who, in his quest for change, seems to think that what will effect change is more of the same. He calls Sarah Palin, from outside DC and in many ways from outside the system, more of the same. Coming from someone who picked Joe Biden as a running mate, it comes off a bit rich.
It will be interesting to watch how Sarah Palin handles herself throughout the campaign. She is a reformer at heart. She reformed Wasilla Council. She reformed the Alaskan State Government. We can only hope she will reform this campaign as well.
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