Speaker Pelosi: A Symptom of the Void

As the capstone of her effort to build a bi-partisan coalition to pass the financial system rescue bill today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked the president and the republicans whose votes she needed with an inflammatory, partisan speech.

Call it persuasion by napalm. Many of us disagree with the Speaker, but reasonable minds can differ. (Maybe we do need to do something... but I'm sure tired of bailing out people with incomes in six and seven and eight figures!) What her speech was not... was leadership, in a time of crisis.

Yes, yes, any Republican who changed his or her mind on the vote because of her remarks shouldn't be returned to office. But in the current blame competition, her constituents and Congress should remember that when her country called, she couldn't put down the banner of the Democratic Party long enough to pick up the American flag, and lead.

The bill didn't fail because of your speech, Madame Speaker. It failed because of your lack of leadership -- and your speech was just a symptom of the void.

Pop Quiz: Identify this politician

1. I have five children, the oldest of whom serves in the armed services.

2. Although I am a Republican, I battle against entrenched business special interests.

3. I am less than 45 years old, and have been nominated to be vice president of the United States -- even though I have served fewer than two years as the governor of my state.

4. I love the outdoors, I hunt and fish, and I am a member of the National Rifle Association.

Have you heard of me before this year?
My name is Theodore Roosevelt. Skeptical?

1. Five kids:

• Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. 1887-1944, served in the infantry in WWI
• Kermit Roosevelt, 1989-1943, served in the Army in WWI
• Ethel Roosevelt Derby, 1891-1977, served in the Red Cross in WWI
• Archibald Roosevelt, 1894-1979, served in both WWI and WWII
• Quentin Roosevelt 1897-1918, died in the line of duty in WWI

2. Teddy joined the GOP in 1880. He dissolved at least 40 monopolies and trusts.

3. He was 42 when elected vice president in 1900 -- DOB of 10-27-1858

4. T.R. was a lifetime member of the NRA.
Special thanks to YostPost regular Rob Schuler for suggesting the comparison.

Palin Among The Wonk Snobs

Sarah Palin and Ronald Reagan have something in common: they don't seem smart enough to please the soi-disant smart people.

That luminary of the Intellectual Left, E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post, writes today that the GOP nominee for vice presidenet "knows very little about national and international policy and isn't very curious." This is apparently because she prefers summary briefing materials instead of wonkish three-inch binders.

Memo to Mr. Dionne: She's not applying for a fellowship at the Brookings Institution.

Leaders deal with a phenomenal array of thorny issues. They cannot become truly expert in any of them -- so, they have staff members, who are experts in the wide range of fields that inform a leadership decision.

A leader must be something of a generalist -- someone who can understand the economic impact of a decision, the implications for foreigh policy, the politics of Congress, how the decision will effect working families and small businesses and the states and cities and much, much more. Someone who can see the connections between what Expert A knows and the theories of Expert B and how what Adviser C knows settles the question.

To do that job well, you need to learn a lot from a lot of people, quickly, every day and all the time.

Don't get me wrong: I like detail. When I prosecute a criminal, I must know the tiniest details of the case. I live with three-inch binders. My job, unlike the president, is very specific and very focused.

But a presidential candidate who loves that level of detail doesn't understand the job of leadership, and isn't qualified for it.

Reagan was criticized for not studying detail. But he was responsible for the death of communism, reforming the tax code and strengthening the economy. Our most wonkish president was Jimmy Carter. Can you name his signature achievement as president?

The media elites love the fictional president of old TV show, The West Wing. President Bartlett knows more than all his advisers combined, cuts to the chase, is wise and benevolent. If such a candidate ever existed, I would vote for her regardless of party.

But that's impossible. The world is an incredibly complex place, and the necessary knowledge about it is an ocean. Even if one could hold that ocean to her lips, she could not drink it. A president is the leader of a team, not a stand-alone stand-in for an omniscient God.

Sarah Palin may prove to have more in common with Ronald Reagan than a preference for snappy, to-the-point briefing materials. Like Reagan, she may have the right set of skills to be a great leader -- as vice president, or maybe someday, president.

Warning: Category 4 Hurricane of Lawyers

More than 7,000 volunteer lawyers are set to descend upon "key states" during this year's election, according to the Associated Press. You can count on Ohio being one of them.

That's just the Democrats. Republicans aren't swearing off litigation -- they just declined to say how many lawyers they have lined up.

Evacuation is voluntary at this point, but authorities are monitoring the situation and urge everyone to remain calm.

These lawyers are not public-spirited souls monitoring fair elections. They are warriors who want to make sure their side gets as many votes as possible, and to block as many of the other side's votes as possible. More for us, less for you. Except that it's you and me -- the public! -- that loses out as the litigation drags on.

The Attorney General is still embroiled in election litigation ... over the 2004 election.

And, instead of focusing on prosecuting criminals, at least part of my time in November is going to be spent in court, defending the Board of Elections from legal challenges by both sides.

The courts need to re-establish the "political question" doctrine, and decline to micro-manage elections. That constitutional authority belongs to the Secretary of State, not the courts -- and not to the lawyers.

Just A Question For A Convicted Killer

Richard Wade Cooey is sentenced to die October 2 for the brutal murder of two students at the University of Akron in 1986.

You may remember him as the Killer Who Was Too Fat to Die.

Cooey, who at 5'7" tips the scale at 275 pounds, claims he should avoid execution because his weight will make it too difficult and painful for prison personnel to locate a vein to administer the lethal injection.

So here's my question: Do you think he would object to the IV needle if medical personnel were trying to save his life instead of end it?

Nah, me neither.

A suggestion for Gov. Strickland's Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections: Let's put Mr. Cooey on a strict diet. You could even commute his sentence for a few months so he could slim down to, say, 150 pounds.

First post -- good morning!

Elected officials generally don't blog. They spend so much time "triangulating" their positions and following polls that they dare not risk saying what they really think. Especially in writing!

Well, there will be people who won't like some of the things I will say in the coming months. But it will be honest -- and, maybe at times, thought-provoking.

This is an experiment, and we'll see how it goes. I'll try to post regularly, and I'm interested in your feedback, too. When Abraham Lincoln was in the White House, he would set aside a morning once a week to meet anyone who wanted to come to see him -- no appointment necessary. He called it his "public opinion bath."

This blog is a higher tech public opinion bath... tell me what you think.