Is Sarah Palin running for President? from Planck's Constant

sexism at the carwash
Photo by: dutch_elm_disease

A Martian landing on Earth a few weeks ago and reading blogs or listening to TV News shows about the current campaigns for US President might well be misled into thinking that the race is between Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.

Bryan Del Monte in his blog post Is Sarah Palin ready to be (Vice) President? compares Obama, not against McCain, but against Sarah Palin:

Professor of Politics Fred Greenstein, wrote an interesting analysis of what makes for a good President. The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from FDR to Clinton, offers lessons for presidents and the voters who put them in office. In the book, he analyzes the leadership qualities of presidents since FDR and rates their performance in six areas: communication, organizational capacity, political skill, vision, cognitive style (how the president processes information) and “emotional intelligence” (which Greenstein describes as “the president’s ability to manage his emotions and turn them to constructive purposes, rather than being dominated by them and allowing them to diminish his leadership”). Greenstein argues that these six factors are the primary determinants between Presidents that are effective, and those who sink in History.

Bryan rightly observes that Senator Obama is a remarkable candidate and would rank well in all six categories. Personally I think if it were not for the fact that Obama is a blathering socialist idiot he would make a great president. There are many examples in history where charismatic, intelligent, university-educated blathering socialists took control of countries with great potential and turned them into stinking, poverty infested-basket cases; Fidel Castro comes to mind. One would think that Communism has been completely discredited by the examples of Cuba and the Soviet Union, yet fools like Obama keep showing up on our political scene.

Bryan then goes on to analyze Sarah Palin in the six categories and without a shred of sexist prejudice concludes:

While there is much we need to learn about Gov. Palin - the indicators are that she wouldn’t make for a bad President - certainly not as much of a neophyte as the Obama campaign would have us believe. Only time would tell how well she would do - she could wind up being like Harry Truman - the right person at the right time with the right skills. She could wind up being Gerald Ford - a beacon of stability in a time of national crisis. The indicators are there that she could be a good President.