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Obama Sets Standard that Puts Palin in the Lead
In the wake of Hurricane Gustav, which hit land today around New Orleans, Barack Obama was just interviewed on CNN by Anderson Cooper (9/1/08 10:24 p.m.) and was asked the following question:
Anderson Cooper:Â My final question, some of your Republican critics say that you don't have the experience to handle a situation like this (Hurricane Gustav), they've in fact said that Governor Palin has more executive experience as mayor of a small town and governor of a big state as Alaska, what's your response?
Obama: Well, you know, my understanding is that Governor Palin's town, 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 3 times that just for the month. So I think our ability to manage large systems and to execute I think has been made clear... Pay close attention to what Obama said here because in this statement Obama compares the size of his campaign to the small Alaskan town Governor Palin led and suggests that since his campaign has more employees and spends more money that he is then the more experienced and more qualified executive. (Discuss this article here) There's just one small problem here for Obama. Obama apparently forgot that Governor Palin is also a governor. And perhaps he didn't know, but the number of state employees Governor Palin leads in Alaska dwarfs anything his campaign could ever hope to hire. And the Alaska state budget is some 22 times higher than the budget of the Obama campaign. Â
Obama makes another interesting admission in his statement. Anderson Cooper asked him for his response to the statement that Governor Palin has more executive experience. Obama does not point to his days as a community "organizer" and suggest he had executive experience there. And he doesn't point to his days in the Illinois Legislature or the U.S. Senate as places where he gained executive experience. In his answer, he concedes that the only executive experience he has had in his life is that of running his campaign this year. If you listen closely, you'll see he's actually suggesting that the experience he has gotten from running his campaign is part of what qualifies him to be president!  Using Obama's own measure Palin is far more qualified. She controls a budget of almost $10 billion and a state work force of some 25,000 employees - ten times the number Obama employs in his campaign. And a budget some 22 times higher than anything Obama will manage in this year's campaign. Â
While everyone is busy denouncing Palin for not having enough executive experience, while noting Obama's vast experience as a community "organizer" and a state senator, they overlook the following: that as the governor of a state, even a small state like Alaska, you confront issues and have responsibilities that are very much like those you will come into contact with in the White House. Here are just a few of the areas Governor Palin has responsibility for as Governor of Alaska: - Government administration
- Commerce, Community & Economic Development
- Corrections/Prisons/Criminal Justice
- Education
- Environmental policies
- Fish & Game
- Health and Social Services
- Labor
- Law
- Military and Veterans' Affairs
- Natural Resources
- Public Safety
- Revenue
- Transportation and Public Facilities
- University of Alaska
- Legislature
- Alaska Court System
- Fund Capitalization
- Public Education Fund
- Special Appropriations
- Retirement policies
Obama's days as a community "organizer" and state senator really can't compare to this kind of executive experience. Â
Using the standard Obama set himself tonight on CNN, the size of the organization each candidate has run is the measure of how much executive experience each candidate has. And by that measure, Sarah Palin has far more than he. |
Politics 
