Mano a Mano

A couple of things happened since I last posted here. President Obama held a jobs summit, gave a speech on jobs at the Brookings Institute, and I bought and read Sarah Palin's new book, "Going Rogue". I haven't been able to find out what went on at the jobs summit, but I did watch his speech on TV. Also, I went to the White House website and read the speech again, because I didn't want to miss something important. Mostly, he outlined proposals to spend a bunch of money to "pay for" jobs that he wants to create. But, he finally added that he was going to propose a couple of tax incentives (something the Republicans have called for since day one) to help the businesses expand and hire new people. This was the only bright spot in the speech. Of course, he whined again about the last administration leaving him a mess, and he bragged about how his enlightened team had saved the day. Once again, he went on about saving or creating 1.2 million jobs with his stimulus package. I just don't see how he rectifies that with the fact that roughly 4 million more jobs were lost since he took office. All in all, it was a typical Obama speech, carefully written to avoid addressing the problems, and giving himself a lot of credit for whatever, if any, successes there were. Oh, what I wouldn't give for an honest politician!!

Now, about Sarah Palin. I will admit that I didn't know what to expect when I bought the book. Since it was number one on the best-seller list even before it was released, I was fully prepared to be disappointed by either poor writing or just a lot of boring, chronological facts. Happily, the book turned out to be a terrific read, written in the straight-forward, and sometimes humorous style that we saw when she was on the campaign trail. She has a degree in journalism, you know, and it shows in the way she put this book together. When I finished the book, I knew all I needed to know about her upbringing, her work ethic, her devotion to her family, her faith, and the ambition she brought to her life in public service. As far as being poorly "handled" in the campaign, she tells it like it was, and she makes it clear who the bad guys were.

Fast-forward to 2012. These two charismatic icons could feasibly face each other in the presidential election. By then, I know that I will have had all of Barack Obama that I could stand. I am already tired of the partisanship, the lies and misleadings, and all of his questionable dealings and relationships. It is hard to imagine that the folks in general will not have seen through his far-left agenda by the time they need to decide about another term. On the other hand, Sarah's conservative message will be well received, and she will no longer be perceived as a ditsy outsider from the Far North. People will know that she has a solid record of governing achievements under her belt, and the fortitude to deal with any of the problems facing our nation. I, for one, would be very excited to see a nose-to-nose face-off between these two. Let's just hope that there is still a country left to be President of.