Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The Stormy Political Scene

Well, it didn't take long for the Democrats to come out and say that Sarah Palin didn't have enough experience to become Vice President, regardless that Barack Obama has even less executive experience. It was fun to watch a couple of the debates between Republicans and Democrats.

It's just a fact that Palin has more executive experience -- not a lot, but more -- than Obama, but any good Democrat won't admit that.

The McCain-Palin team brings more experience to Washington that Obama-Biden. At least one has some executive experience. Romney would have been a better choice, given his expertise in economics and his vast executive experience. But Palin caught the nation's attention and that's what you need to do sometimes in politics.

On a more stormy front, it didn't take the liberal New York Times any time at all to point out the "failings" of the Bush administration over Katrina, as Gustav put New Orleans in its sites.

This time around, the party’s off. Or at least it is for Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain, who on Sunday sought to focus attention on efforts to prepare for Hurricane Gustav at the expense of carefully laid plans for this week’s Republican National Convention.

In some ways, it was a nightmare moment for Republicans. The hurricane’s approach put front and center once more some of the worst failings of the Bush presidency at the very moment Mr. McCain was to begin presenting a vision of the post-Bush Republican Party to the nation.

You gotta get pretty tired of the "it's Bush's fault" whenever anything -- and I mean anything -- happens. Yes, our federal government was not as responsive as it should have been three years ago, but let's look at the real situation.

National disaster preparation and action starts with the local government, then state, then federal. Three years ago, New Orlean's local government was a total failure, as was the state. FEMA wasn't prepared to meet the lack of planning at the local level. So it took a team effort to fail, just as this time, it took a team effort to succeed.

When we start relying on the federal government for our well-being -- instead of ourselves -- we are in big trouble. This is a huge difference between liberals and conservatives. One group wants the feds to be responsible for everything, the other group looks to the individuals involved.

We are at a critical point in our history. Do we want big government to take care of us, or do we want to take care of our selves?

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