Friday, August 29, 2008
The Corner on Palin
I just checked what the folks at The National Review's Corner where the commentary is, natch, supportive of the Palin pick. Lots of boilerplate, but let me make one point: Anyone who thinks that being governor of Alaska is comparable in status or accomplishment with being a United States Senator from Illinois is a fucking moron. (Further, anyone who claims that being mayor of an Alaska suburb is comparable to being a state legislator in Illinois is also, well, you get the point.)
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8 comments:
It's not that different from being governor of Texas, and that turned out fine, as far as they're concerned....
That's more true than most think -- by most any measure the Texas governorship gives less concrete power to its holder than about any similar position in the country. It's a high profile position that pretty much lives by the do no harm principle inasmuch as it's hard to do much good or bad, so just don't do bad.
I just do not understand those who criticize Obama's time in -- not to put too fine a point on it -- the most august legislative body in the world. Four years isn't huge, but it is not nothing, especially with seven years in the state legislature of Illinois and experience as a community organizer and law professor. Not to mention defeating the political machine of the Clintons, not to mention every other Democrat, in the national race for the Democratic nomination. Barack Obama captured 18 million votes. That too is experience.
dcat
Richard Hofstadter apparently contended that being a state legislator was some of the best training one could have for the big job(s).
http://hnn.us/readcomment.php?id=105019&
Anon--
Good catch.
dcat
DCAT:
Can you clarify what you mean by "accomplishment" in your statement:
"Anyone who thinks that being governor of Alaska is comparable in status or accomplishment with being a United States Senator from Illinois is a fucking moron."
Do you mean the accomplishment of Obama actually getting elected Senator from Illinois? Or, do you mean Obama's accomplishments during the past four years as a Senator from Illinois?
I mean "accomplishment" in any sense of the term. Simply being a senator is a more impressive accomplishment than being Alaska's governor. Obama's service on the Foreign relations committee, his working across the aisle, and his ability to impress his colleagues with his intelligence and insight are what have made him a rising star.
But please, let's have the comparison.
dcat
In the words of the college freshman in my history course who think they are getting by with sending text messages in my large survey course, IMAO...LOL...
tramaine.
The GOP can try to disparage Obama all they want. It's what they do. The reality is that he's a formidable man with formidable skills and a formidable resume. The more we learn about Palin the more schadenfreude I am getting from this absurd spectacle.
dcat
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