2 posts tagged “2008 elections”

As long-time readers know, I have come down on Sen. Obama’s side fairly regularly during the Democratic primaries but I have criticized him a few times, too. The first I can recall was I thought he was being petty about The New Yorker cover. Now he claims that he has more executive experience than Gov. Palin.
   I want a fairer fight than this but it is politics, and the fights are never fair.
   The Murdoch Press has reported:

“Well, my understanding is that Governor Palin’s town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We’ve got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month. So I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute I think has been made clear over the last couple of years,” Obama said.

   These numbers’ arguments are never clear-cut. But the fact does remain a governor has more executive experience, and I would have said that if the Democrats had put in a governor on the ticket.
   Now, let’s look at these numbers from Gov. Palin’s time as mayor—which is not even that relevant now. I do not dispute these figures. But think about it: then-Mayor Palin ran a town with a mere 50 staff with a $12 million budget which is no small feat. That means dealing with everything from rubbish collection to collecting rates. I don’t think there’s much waste there. She ought to be congratulated.
   Sen. Obama has a 2,500-strong group dedicated to glorifying him. A single issue. He spends $36 million a month for that one thing.
   I am exaggerating, I admit that. I can use the same logic and say that John McCain is spending tens of millions to paint the war-hero image for himself.
   But there are many, many things on which Democrats can disagree with Sarah Palin on—pro-gun and pro-life for starters. How about the environment? Much easier things to go after than this comparison. 
   A similar approach on ‘experience’ did not work for Sen. Clinton, and it will not work for Sen. Obama.
   Sen. Obama has, for the second time, handed a big red target to the Republicans. He was lucky they left him alone on The New Yorker gag (which was designed to help him and point out how stupid some of the anti-Obama dialogue was), but I can just see the GOP now go on about how he needs 2,500 people and $432 million a year to promote himself.

On lighter fare, I was encouraged to put this up by friends because I use it as a bipartisan gag at the office. ‘The problem with Barack Obama is that he thinks he’s Jesus Christ. The problem with John McCain is that he’s met both gentlemen.’ Hmm, it’s not that funny now that I write it out. And wouldn’t it be way cool to actually meet Jesus? The humour must all be in the delivery.

I first read about Sen. Joe Biden’s nomination to be Sen. Barack Obama’s running-mate through the MSM. It was probably on Google News, in the headlines. Then I saw it here on television, albeit briefly, since a VP nominee doesn’t really have much importance to New Zealanders.
   I first read about Gov. Sarah Palin’s nomination as Sen. John McCain’s running-mate on Timothy’s Vox blog. I have not heard mentions on radio or TV here. And I realize that this is not big news to Kiwis, and I admittedly was out during the six o’clock TV news broadcast yesterday. But as someone kind of interested in US politics, I would have expected to have run into the news somewhere.
   Maybe to us, as we have had female prime ministers twice (at one point, the PM, Chief Justice and Governor-General were all female), the ascension of a woman to the presidential ticket is not a biggie. Also, then-Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro had already trailblazed on that front as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 1984.
   It will be interesting to see if Gov. Palin will help the McCain campaign. She is largely unknown outside her home state but that might help charges that Sen. McCain (like Sen. Biden, I should point out) is the same-old Washington establishment. With Palin’s approval ratings at 80 per cent in her home state, and a pretty solid résumé, she has quite a few pluses in terms of her hard work for Alaska.
   She has been clear on her beliefs—she has a lifetime NRA membership, she opposes the legalization of marijuana and she is pro-life—so people can judge her on those quite easily. If the majority of Americans do not see eye-to-eye with Gov. Palin on these matters, then that is democracy in action.
   Alaska, though in fact modern with large cities, has a stereotype among Americans, and being the 47th state in terms of population, the Democrats will be able to accuse the Governor of inexperience in national politics. It’s a fine line, however: Palin has had 16 years of elected public service, versus Sen. Obama’s 11; though I note that this never stopped Sen. Clinton, with eight years, from attacking Sen. Obama in the primaries.
   Her biggest plus is her whistle-blowing about corruption and the lack of ethics among certain sectors of government in Alaska, meaning Sarah Palin is a no-nonsense, clean-government advocate. How successful this image will carry through into the quagmire of Washington politics is dependent on how Americans view things: can they believe that one person can make a change, or do they believe one person will be buried among establishment thinking?
   It depends on how strongly they believe in the power of the individual.
   Palin is probably an individualist—someone who doesn’t mind bucking the trend and surprising people, and that could play well to many Americans. To some extent McCain has these values but he has also changed his mind on some, which the Democrats have rightly pointed out at their Convention.
   It will be an interesting road ahead.