Barry, I’m sure you really don’t want to go down the ‘experience’ road with this election. Sarah Palin has a proven track record of success. In his address to the Republican National Convention, former New York Mayor and presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani said Sarah Palin “already has more executive experience” than Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr. “combined.”
An examination of the political experience by PolitiFact.com (joint project of Congressional Quarterly and the St. Petersburg Times) of Palin, Obama, and Biden concludes that Giuliani’s assessment is true:
“So Palin has six years of executive experience as mayor of Wasilla and two years of executive experience as governor of Alaska, for a total of eight years.
. . . .Obama has argued that running his national campaign constitutes relevant executive experience. “My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town, Wasilla, has, I think, 50 employees,” Obama told CNN on Sept. 1. “We’ve got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year — we have a budget of about three times that just for the month.”
But we think elected executive experience is what Giuliani had in mind here. And even given Obama’s point, Palin’s years of elected executive experience beat out the rest. . . .So we find Giuliani’s statement True.”
And, a new Rasmussen Reports poll out today shows that Sarah Palin has made an extremely positive impact on American voters. According to the poll, Palin is now viewed favorably by 58% of American voters – up from 52% before her acceptance speech. On the issue of ‘experience’ – here’s a very interesting finding: Even though Palin is the vice-presidential nominee, voters are fairly evenly divided as to whether Palin or Obama has the better experience to be president. And, the media coverage of Palin did not go unnoticed – 51% of Americans believe that most reporters are trying to hurt Palin’s campaign.
Of course, this is the latest poll – a snapshot of the political landscape. But this is the first poll reflecting the opinion of American voters since Palin delivered her acceptance speech Wednesday night which was viewed by more than 40 million people.
The debate about ‘experience’ certainly will continue in this 60-day ‘sprint’ to Election Day.
What I am looking forward to is the series of debates (3 presidential and 1 vice-presidential). These debates will provide the nation with a critical opportunity to learn more about all of the candidates – and that will certainly include questions about ‘experience.’ Will the debates provide the kind of information we received out of the Saddleback Forum? (See my comments from an earlier post.) I hope so. Time is short. We must take every opportunity to explore the positions and ‘experience’ of all the candidates. Let the debates begin!
posted September 5, 2008 at 2:31 pm
There is one thing outside the debates that can change the election results, and she is Hillary Clinton. After Palin, Hillary must campaign 24/7 for Obama, she must act like the virtual candidate (VP and Prez). When the voter goes into the booth, they must think Hillary & Obama. Otherwise its a done deal, Palin has sunk Obama’s campaign.
posted September 5, 2008 at 4:37 pm
The problem with your argument of “Experience” is that using your logic you then have to then agree that she has more experience (executive) than McCain as well. So, she should be the “Headliner” on the Republican ticket then?
So, I’m not sure where you are trying to go with that logic?
Palin’s experience is very limited and as Govenor of Alaska she is under 2 years. As Mayor Palin she ended up having to have an “Administrator” put in place to do her job due to her poor performance as an executive very early on in her tenure. Her tenure as mayor leaves little to be considered. Some quick research will show she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%.
This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million.
So the track record is not so hot.
Obahma and Biden cover a great deal more experience in the Judicial and Legislative sectors which she has none. As the President or VP one must have a great deal of knowledge and experience in both. As far as executive experience goes… it’s not really rocket science.
So who is more experienced then?
posted September 5, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Small town Sarah is not Hilary. She may be the “flavor of the week” but Hilary will make milk toast of her as she campaigns for Obama in the coming weeks. Who better to take her on. And when she comes to debate “Just Plain Joe” Biden, who do you think the working men and women will support? The woman who cut funding for pregnant women or the guy who wrote the law to protect women from violence and who has a record of voting for equal pay for women.
When push comes to shove, Biden is the defender of the working women, Palin is the stumbling block.
The Democrats represent the working class, the Republicans the business class. It is really all about the Labor vs. Capitalists, the vanishing Middle Class vs. the Rich, the Commoners vs. the Aristocrats.
What the Republican want to confuse you with is that they want you to think its all about babies.
posted September 5, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Too soon to say what will happen. We just need to wait. But unless Palin pulls out one hell of a debate, she may get the experience of her first bad review. Biden is fierce in the debates. We’ll wait and see. One great speech is great. Barack Obama had one great speech in 2004. But that won’t put him in the White House. There are two months til’ polling day and I think we are going to see quite a few twists and turns along the way.
posted September 6, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I see this as a race between those who have no moral compass and those who do. Why discuss the economy, foreign policy etc., when a nation will crumble from within from moral rot. How can there possibly be confusion over whether an unborn child’s life must be protected, or what should be the definition of marriage ? The violation of moral law leads to one’s own demise as surely as the violation of physical laws.
posted September 27, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I am late making this post, but here goes anyways.
If Palin has more experience then Obama and Biden combined, what experience does McCain claim? He has never been a mayor or governor, has he? He’s only been in the Senate like the Obama and Biden, so why is everyone beefing up Palin? If you can’t figure it out, go fishing.
posted August 17, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I am a little troubled by the rhetoric expressing Palin’s lack of leadership skills. After all, she was Governor for two years and Mayor for six years. No matter if the government’s budget was three times Alaska’s yearly budget, there are still transferable leadership skills gained from her positions that would have made her an exceptional candidate for Vice President. Even though the transferability of leadership skills gained in one position to the next is dependent upon how closely the job descriptions are, there are still core leadership skills that would help a person be successful in any position. According to Legacee.com at http://www.legacee.com/Services/Leadership/Skills.html, these skills include verbal communication and listening, managing time and stress, managing individual decisions, problem solving, motivating and influencing others, setting goals and articulating a vision, self-awareness, team building, and managing conflict. Thus, Gov. Palin would have been successful if her team was chosen.