What election?
I was trying to pretend there wasn’t one, but then Sarah Palin came along and made it almost interesting!
My friend Ben Casnocha nails more than one thing here:
My ideal Washington D.C. is a place where politicians argue with one another all day and get nothing done.
Ben’s also good on why “experience” isn’t what really matters. (I say this as someone who has no horse in this race and wishes both candidates could suffer humiliating defeat.)
I’d much rather have someone less experienced but more self-aware and “meta-rational.” (I’m not saying Palin is the latter.) This goes for business too. Experience ought not be the only proxy for decision making ability when hiring someone. Asking someone, “What are you strengths and weaknesses?” and then contrasting his answers with the answers of people he’s worked with might be one way to size up his self-awareness.
The thing about Palin is that, disagree with her as I do on so much, I also think she’s kind of bad ass. I also think that the people attacking her, in general, seem to be missing the point. And as our friend Chris Yeh points out, that’s a problem for Obama’s campaign. (I don’t agree with Chris that this was a shrewd move by the McCain campaign. I think they bumbled their way into a superstar VP pick - and yes, she’s a superstar VP pick even if you think she’s a hateful piece of shit. She’s an excellent running mate and is making what was a boring, stupid election race somewhat less boring, at least.)
Also: The more the rabid hatred against her spews, the better off she is. How very shrill and downright nasty most of the attacks are! Makes her seem more reasonable in comparison, even if many of her views aren’t.
Filed under: Life
I have to agree with you. I dislike Palin for a variety of reasons but DAMN she intrigues me. Josh has put a moratorium on nighttime Palin googling, :)
Yes, experience is a tricky criterion. There are things that really can be learned only by doing, but does long experience increase the likelihood that someone has done so? Some people never learn. And great performers tend to move up quickly and be impatient with staying where they aren’t growing, so they are always the ones with the least experience on their resumes. People with long experience–those you have to look at closely, as there’s a high likelihood you will find mediocrity there.