A Fresh Start

no such thing as bad press. It's been good for your state to get some press and I think it is good that people have pointed out that Alaska isn't the ass end of nowhere and there is an active, informed, and thriving community there.

Months ago you were excited at the possibility that Palin could be picked. What changed your mind?

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Well, I was excited about press for Alaska - snort. I didn't know much about her, but she has proven a relatively benign governor of Alaska. However, the woman opens her mouth and stupid spills out.

I want some one smarter and more informed than me in the White House.

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really? I want someone just like me in the White House.

We elect these people, very intelligent, they go to all the right schools and are well-spoken, well-traveled, most of them worked in a profession (Dr. Lawyer, etc) etc....and then we all bitch because they are so removed from the normal experiences and needs of the average American that they have no idea how to govern for the people. They have no empathy with us, no true understanding of how their decisions affect us.

I want someone just like me, came from nothing, didn't go to the ivy league schools, works at a "regular" job. And then I want to them to listen and take information in from their advisors and make their decision - as an average American.

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I respectfully disagree. If I am sick, I go to a doctor. That doctor is trained and skilled. If I need my pipes fixed I call a plumber. Etc. If I want some one running the country I want some one who is trained/educated and skilled at foreign and domestic policy. I ALSO want some one who can relate all of that to the majority of citizens. I am wicked smart and far more informed on domestic and foreign policy than the average American and I don't think I'm qualified or prepared to be president.

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Then our Grand Experiment has failed.

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No I don't think so! I mean, if I wanted to, I could study and learn and run for regional office and THEN run for president. I could be president! An average Jane like myself could be! I don't believe that there should be some political class of society that gets to do all the gov't stuff. I don't think that to be president a person needs a degree in political science. But I want some one smart, a quick learner, well informed, and experienced in leadership and also in how government works. Sarah Palin is none of these things.

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Oh she has much to learn, but I think she is smart. Anyone that has worked with her has said that she is smart and a quick learner, even if they think she is a class-A bitch. But she has much to learn and she has had to do it under a magnifying glass.

Experience doesn't hurt, not at all. I'm a fan of experience which is part of why I dislike that Obama was the pick for the Dems - he has been in political office for the same number of years as Palin - and I wish it would have been H. Clinton.

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It's true that Obama and Palin have been in elected office the same amount of time (not counting Palin's term on the Wassila City Council). But, when Palin was mayor of Wassila, she governed 6,000 people; at that time, Obama was state representative of Illinois' 13th district, which has about 140,000 people in it.

When the two moved up to their respective next levels, Palin was governing 680,000 people in Alaska; Obama, for his part, was one of two senators representing 12,800,000 people.

It seems to me that there's a pretty enormous difference in the size of government that the two have been involved in up til now.

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Look, I know that she hasn't been Gov for very long and I don't think she's done THAT much in the state. She inherited the AK gas pipeline deal with Canada, not spear head it. But when you make comparisons between being senator of over a million people and Gov of "only 680,000" you are assuming that the two jobs are similar. They are not. And being Gov of AK, even with it's low population, is a very tricky place to govern. You have Native issues, villages that still speak their indigenous languages, you have billion dollar natural resource budgets, complex geography, etc. There are some very unique and challenging aspects to being governor of AK. My issues is that she wasn't at it very long. She let some key positions go unfilled and has abused power (after passing ethic reforms she herself did not adhere to).

Don't make me defend Palin!

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Heh. All right, I wouldn't want you to have to do anything distasteful. Being the executive of a state, even one one-twentieth the size of Illinois, is difficult, and Obama never had to be a state executive of a state of any size.

I think my comparison held up better when I was comparing being mayor of Wassila with being any kind of state-level elected official in Illinois...the difference in constituency sizes is 100:1...just staggering.

Since I don't know much about how they governed their respective constituencies back then, I'm left comparing populations. Somehow, I just think it's specious to say that, because they've technically been in elected office the same number of years, that the experience gap is a wash.

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The Wasilla comparison is apt. But "one one-twentieth the size of Illinois" ..... it's also one third the size of the country. :)

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hrafntinna.livejournal.com

But by your own admission, there are a lot of "unique" issues in Alaska. That's not to say that every state doesn't have its own unique problems, but some are maybe more unique than others. Polar bear management is important, but it's not something that matters in the other 49 states. (I also don't like her stance on it.) There are other places in the world where her experience as governor of AK would be more germane.

That's not at all to disqualify Alaskans from Federal office! I'd have to disqualify New Yorkers by that logic too. But cosmopolitanism matters, and maybe it matters more when you're from someplace so exceptional.

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amyura.livejournal.com

*shrug*

I went to an Ivy League school and I'm a high school teacher who does some part-time singing at Catholic weddings and funerals. We struggle to pay our bills and live in a raised ranch. You don't get much more regular than that.

And I want someone who knows more than I do about how to be a president. I want someone like me as a state rep, state senator, even in Congress. But I want a president who's got more expertise than I.

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This is why Sarah Palin works on a regional level, but not on a national level.

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The only person that knows how to be a President is a former President. All of them say (in books and papers) that they thought they were ready and knew what they were getting into and once they were sworn in they realized that it was like nothing they could describe. That all thier years as an elected official didn't really prepare them for this office. The do point to other things that did help them prepare - and they all involved people skills.

If the general concensus is that "regular" Americans do not have the expertise to be President, then they don't have the expertise to choose a President, either. Our entire government is founded on the idea that average Americans can and should run our government in all areas. During the time of our first three Presidents one of the raging debates was how to keep a aristocracy from forming in the USA. (Meaning it wasn't based on birth, but on social class, social or educational clubs a person belonged to, work positions, etc)

A President doesn't (and couldn't) know everything about everything. They are like the CEO of a company. The CEO is good at leadership (getting the most out of his/her people, putting the right people into the right place, keeping morale up) and decision making (seeking out information from people you trust and then making your own decision) But the CEO isn't an expert on any one thing. They don't have time. That's what they have experts for, they look at the smaller pieces of the picture. The CEO can see the whole picture, but can't really get into the nitty gritty details.

I think we do a grave disservice to ourselves and people running for office when we expect them to be expert in every area - we expect them to be master tacticians, instead of master strateticians. We expect too much of the wrong things and not enough of the right things.

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But you wouldn't hire just the average worker to run a Fortune 500 company. Would you?

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Pardon me Snowcalla, but I perceive a slippery slope in your argument: Just because I can't run a large country with a multi-trillion-dollar budget, 6,000-mile borders, and the bomb, does not mean I can't make a reasonably informed decision about who I would like to do it for me. Although I can't quiz and grade Obama, McCain, Biden, or Palin on their knowledge of constitutional law, I have a pretty good sense of what governing philosophy each one brings to the job.

For instance, I know that McCain would partially or totally privatize health care and social security, despite that I can't write a single health-related piece of legislation (reading the Congressional Record is sobering). Also for instance, although I can't tell the writings of an activist judge from those of a strict constructionist, I know Palin will do everything she can to outlaw abortion and otherwise represent evangelical conservative social values.

Some presidents are like the CEO of a company. It has been referred to as the CEO model of presidency. George W. Bush is one of those people. They said when he was elected, "It doesn't matter if he doesn't know what everything means. He'll have smart people around him who have the expertise, and he'll be the decision maker." Bill Clinton, by contrast, was an "All roads go through me" kind of president, wanting to know as much as possible about all subjects. Not everyone has the energy and curiosity to pull that off, but I don't like the diminished personal responsibility that the President has had these last 8 years, saying too readily that he didn't know exactly what was going on. Also, I think there's a contagious effect: If it's not okay for the president to be smarter than me, why is it okay for his/her advisor's to be smarter than me? Why are they allowed to have the expertise?

The parents I know have universally said that nothing could have prepared them for parenthood. I believe that. Regardless, they all saved money, took Lamaze classes or yoga, talked to a doctor and/or a midwife, and generally did everything in their power to become more prepared than they were nine months earlier. Just as taking all those measures made them more ready to be parents than someone who blew all their money and stuck their head in the sand, people who get experience early on juggling multiple life-or-death government problems are more prepared to hold elected office than those who don't. Without taking anything away from the basic right of everyone to run for office, I readily acknowledge the achievements of those who took poli sci and show a talent for leadership.

Years ago, I played a video game that simulated being the president of a small Central American country. It was _so_difficult._ The Soviets wanted to give me tractors, but the Americans wanted to pay me not to take the tractors. Leaks seemed to spring up all over the place, with demonstrations outside the palace every month. Obama may be better at this game than I am--at least I sure hope he is--but I figure I'm a better graphic artist than him. So I don't begrudge some people being better at politics than others.

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This is a great response.

I have heard from Alaskans that while Palin is very effective at getting things done, she has no intellectual curiosity.... in effect, she's much like Bush that way.

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*wink* besides...if worry about stupid spilling out was a concern, Biden wouldn't have the DNC VP nod.

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HA! So true.

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Sarah Palin: for people who like Mike Huckabee's values, but want someone with fewer credentials.

Palin's just shy of two years as governor, and already a bipartisan investigation has found her to have abused her power. By the time 2012 rolls around, she will have lost that America's-darling charm faster than a child star who knocks over a Kwikee Mart, and will have been in office (or out of it) long enough to have built up a record people can point to. It's easier to capture people's imaginations when you're a blank slate.

Looking past her gender and her folksiness, she is simply the most hard-line socially conservative candidate, as well as the least-experienced one, to get this far in a presidential election that I can think of. That won't appeal to the population as a whole if she tries to go it alone.

She's also too gaffe-prone to survive a brutal general election at the top of the ticket. If she lacks Obama's poise or Bill Clinton's charisma, then even if she studies up, no one will be able to miss her stance on abortion or her abuse of executive power.

Conservative pundits are smoking the pipe when they talk about Palin in 2012. Sure doesn't say anything good about the state of McCain's campaign if they're already looking past him.

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Hi there! It's so nice to hear from you again!

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Hi! I love following the election scene, so journal entries like this one are usually an easy way to get a rise out of me. Thanks for the pictures! I'm lurking here, even when you don't hear from me.

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I miss you. Come home. And bring the Professor.

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hrafntinna.livejournal.com

I'm in Kentucky and I'm sick. Hi.

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YUCK. What're you doing in KY?

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hrafntinna.livejournal.com

At a conference. Sick. Delivering a paper with acute laryngitis. I kept running into colleagues in the hall and flashing a little piece of paper that said "Hi, I've lost my voice" on one side and "How are you?" on the other. Two of them said, "Oh, me too. I have terrible laryngitis. I don't know how I'm going to read my paper." I just smiled.

I gave a Powerpoint presentation in total silence.

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amyura.livejournal.com

God, who in their right mind would vote for her?

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sapphire-kittum.livejournal.com

Oh dear. :( At least I'm in Australia and don't need to worry..... right?

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OMFG!!!!

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miss-ogyny.livejournal.com

Honestly I'm more interested in how all this will effect (affect) her bid as Gov in two years. Im assuming she will run again, I'm also assuming "they" won't win the presidential election. But all this bullshit that is surrounding her these days. I dunno, she fills me with ire!

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donkeyfly.livejournal.com

just from talking to my mom and all her wonky friends, from what i hear, she's going to have trouble coming back just after this election. it sounds like she's going to have some serious things to answer for.

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donkeyfly.livejournal.com

filled with ire!

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Yes, she is burning her bridges big time, on both sides of the party aisles. While I was in Anchorage the ADN did a piece basically saying as much. If she doesn't win the VP then her job as Governor is going to be VERY difficult. I doubt she'd get re-elected.

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miss-ogyny.livejournal.com

any idea what sort of serious things she's going to have to answer for? Like spending 150,000 dollars on clothes? or the huge amount of state money for travel so her kids can cut ribbons at sled dog races?

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bravenewcentury.livejournal.com

It says a lot to me that that article comes from the Telegraph. As someone who's been following the election mainly through blogs and the online sections of the Washington Post, I must say that the reporting in the British press has been... a bit weird. I'm not sure if it's just a reflection of the British national mood at the moment, or the extremely high likelihood that we'll be getting a Conservative government at the next election, but the coverage of the US election seems to basically follow a kind of 'Obama's doing really well... but something is bound to go horribly wrong, don't you worry' model in every outlet I've come across, and the Telegraph is perhaps even more morose with regards to the Dems than the other papers.

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