We are hearing much about Gov. Sarah Palin's "executive experience", as governor of the state of Alaska. She has "made executive decisions"; one Republican strategist argued "she's right up there near Russia", as if she had acquired foreign policy experience by way of geography. But how much organizing, how much leadership has her executive position required? Is it really more than what Sen. Obama has acquired as the founder and head of the most successful national political campaign organization in recent history?
This may sound petty, and I take seriously Sen. Obama's admonition to be wary of the "smallness of our politics" (Feb. 10, 2007), but nevertheless it's worth making the point: Sen. Obama's work in organizing and steering a major national campaign has required no shortage of executive decision-making, including bringing together the most experienced group of foreign policy experts, over 300, turning his advisory team into a sort of cabinet infrastructure in waiting. He has received donations from over 2 million distinct individuals, and brought more than 18 million people across 50 states and multiple territories to his cause.
He plays an executive role (no one can argue against that) in steering the ship of 50-states-plus that is his massive grassroots campaign organization, started from the ground up, and now the most effective positive-message political campaign in modern history. His executive prowess vanquished the "Clinton machine" and has already redefined the entire nature and scope of our national political discourse.
His brilliant rhetorical vision is not the wishful thinking of an idealistic legislator and it is not the product of a man who has caved in to follow the established leadership of his party; it is a blue-print for what will likely be the most effective, most can-do, most energetic executive leadership we have seen in decades. He is compared to Lincoln and to JFK, not for speechmaking or for charisma, but for his leadership qualities, for his ability to take a stance, lay out a vision, and then build an organization led by himself, through which to commit the energy of millions to improving the lot of the average American and helping bring our nation closer to its ideals.
That is the executive we need. Whatever their qualities, neither of the GOP candidates measures up to this standard.
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