Posted on 07/02/2011 11:40:30 AM PDT by Brices Crossroads
Much has been written about Michele Bachmann's lack of any executive experience and the crippling disability it poses for her campaign for the GOP nomination and for the Presidency. But candidates with no executive experience have won the Presidency before. Both JFK and Obama come to mind. It is true that no GOP nominee in well over 100 years has lacked executive experience. (Even Senator Warren Harding had served as Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and William Howard Taft had been the Governor of both the Philippines and Cuba). It is a major obstacle for her, especially in this cycle and especially in the GOP, which prefers to nominate Executives rather than legislators. However, this impediment cannot be said to be insurmountable. It has been overcome in the recent past, albeit by Democrat candidates.
What would be unprecedented in modern times would be the nomination and election of a candidate who has NEVER won a state wide election. With the exception of Dwight Eisenhower, a War hero and Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in World War II, who was thus sui generis , it has been over seventy years since the GOP gambled on a candidate who had never run a state wide campaign, the hapless Wendell Wilkie. Wilkie was carpet bombed by FDR in 1940, even though the economy was still in the ditch after eight years of the New Deal. The Republicans confront a similar situation in 2012, a weakened Democrat President, who can be beaten with the right candidate. The GOP is not about to entrust its 2012 fortunes to a four year Congressperson who has never even passed a major piece of good legislation or blocked a major piece of bad legislation.
And the knock on her political experience is not just that she has never won state wide elective office, but that MICHELE BACHMANN HAS NEVER EVEN RUN A STATE WIDE CAMPAIGN. Indeed, even Herman Cain, who has never won state wide elective office, has at least run state wide, seeking the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in a contested state wide primary. Now, in a singular act of political hubris, Bachmann puts herself forward to be the GOP standard bearer in a national election. And make no mistake. A national election for the Presidency is fifty separate state elections. Having never won, nor even run, a state wide campaign Bachmann argues that the GOP should trust her competence to run 50 state wide elections ON THE SAME DAY, as well as her ability to win more than half of them! Even the "Stupid Party" can't be bamboozled to that degree. The risk of a down ballot catastrophe caused by an inexperienced, gaffe prone candidate at the top of the ticket is too great, even if the Democrat President himself were a shoo-in for re-election (which, in 2012, he definitely is not).
Sarah Palin has the executive experience which Bachmann lacks. But, even Mitt Romney can make that claim, as can Barack Obama. However, leaving aside the question of executive experience, Palin also possesses the political experience so conspicuously missing from Bachmann's skill set. Palin has run in two state wide contested GOP primaries, in 2002 and in 2006. In 2002, she narrowly lost the GOP nod for Lieutenant Governor by 2.5% in a four candidate field. Four years later, after exposing the corruption of his administration, Palin took on and clobbered the incumbent GOP Governor Frank Murkowski, who had been elected state wide FOUR times previously, in the GOP primary, 51%-19%. She went on to easily dispatch popular two term former Governor Tony Knowles in the general election, 49% to 40%, in spite of a third party challenge by a former GOP opponent.
Palin, alone among all the GOP candidates, has actually run in a national campaign, and this experience cannot be overemphasized She has seen the errors the McCain operatives made. To a greater extent than all the rest, especially Bachmann, she realizes what works in a Presidential campaign and what does not work. She knows who can be trusted and who cannot be trusted. Michele Bachmann, on the other hand, will be completely dependent upon the likes of Ed Rollins and his ilk, because she has no clue how to run even a state wide campaign, much less a national one. Palin neither wants nor needs such crutches.
Obama in 2012 is shaping up as a ripe target for the GOP. They are not about to squander this golden opportunity by gambling on Michele Bachmann's thin political resume.
“He sat in their without a tie, short sleeves and put his feet up on the Resulte desk.
Hey, “he be da man and $hit.”
He even has his own sound track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1cDoA2cXGs";
That is the best the Democrat minorities have??? What a Joke of a man!
Also, I beg to quibble with the notion that Palin has “run” a national campaign.
She was in a national campaign, for sure, but she certainly was not in charge of the whole dang thing, nor did she develop the infrastructure for the campaign or the overall strategy.
Yes, she freelanced some and influenced the nature of the campaign probably more than most VP candidates. But no way did she build the national campaign organization, develop overall strategy for it or manage it.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Not being an accepted member of the political class is hardly a shortcoming.
Oh How Howable, bet Bachmann can’t even sign books and show up at shopping malls.
Yes, it’s worthwhile to evaluate a candidate’s experience.
No, it’s not very worthwhile to think using a checklist of experience definitively tells you everything you need to know about a candidate’s ability, talent and basic “rightness” for this moment in history.
Don’t y’all ever watch the NFL draft?
“To be fair, I have to note that some of Palin’s attributes can also be applied to Mitt Romney (former governor, ran a presidential primary campaign in 2008)”
Agreed, Jim. Which is why Romney would have no trouble dispatching Bachmann, even in the unlikely event she got into a one-on-one match with him. Romney can make arguments against Bachmann that are unavailable to him if his opponent is Palin. That is why he is so desperately trying to use Bachmann to eliminate Palin. Bachmann is no threat to his nomination. Palin is an existential threat to it.
If she ever writes one and anyone shows up at the signing we'll find out.
Oh How Howable, bet Bachmann can’t even sign books and show up at shopping malls.
“And suddenly libs everywhere are worried about experience......”
Oh HO! You got that right! For the libs Kenyan-man’s only necessary experience was learning Communism at the knee of his father.
As I pointed out to you earlier, Bachmann most likely will be signing books in September when her book comes out.
Not that I think there is anything wrong with Bachmman doing it, but will you be consistent and will you make snide remarks about Bachmann when she heads to her book signings?
Unbelievable!
You are quibbling with a notion noone had expressed.
John Fund will be "assisting" BM with writing the book. The book deal was negotiated several weeks ago. The book is due out in the Fall.
Ummm excuse me:
Palin/Perry :) Just has a better ring to it. *snicker*
There you went and jerked the posters fig leaf off.
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