Sarah Palin - She's No Neophyte When It Comes to Politics

I found this article about Sarah Palin's political rise in the UK's Daily Telegraph (and why do I have to go to a foreign news source to find out about politics in my own country?). It's a very good summary of how Sarah Palin has risen to political prominence, and why it would be unwise to discount her politcal skills and ability to get things done.

"The surprise is not that she has been in office for such a short time but that she has succeeded in each of her objectives. She has exposed corruption; given the state a bigger share in Alaska's energy wealth; and negotiated a deal involving big corporate players, the US and Canadian governments, Canadian provincial governments, and native tribes - the result of which was a £13 billion deal to launch the pipeline and increase the amount of domestic energy available to consumers. This deal makes the charge of having "no international experience" particularly absurd."

Read the whole thing.
(via Samizdata)

Obamadoration

This video by Mary Katharine Ham is actually a couple of months old but I just ran across it again (at Power Line) and decided to link it. It perfectly skewers the messianic, "chosen one", he-who-will-solve-all-our-problems phenomenon that is Obama.



And let's not forget this lovely quote from that motor-mouthed shrew Michelle Obama:

"Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your division. That you come out of your isolation. That you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual; uninvolved, uninformed."

Obama Says Experience Not Necessary - Judgment Enough

Kimberly Strassel's weekly Potomac Watch column in the Wall Street Journal points to a claim frequently made by Barack Obama that his superior judgement makes up for his lack of experience;

"And so it goes, as Mr. Obama shifts and shambles, all the while telling audiences that when voting for president they should look beyond "experience" to "judgment." In this case, whatever his particular judgment on Iran is on any particular day."

It reminds me of an old adage, attributed by many to Jim Horning: "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." Horning modestly disavows coming up with this himself, pointing to a Sufi sage, Mulla Nasrudin. Whoever came up with it, it's spot-on