Empirical proof of Palin's leadership abilities relative to Barack Obama's

Fred Kaplan writes in Slate:

At times like these, I'm relieved that I don't cover elections. There's bum DNA in my heart, and the agita might send me keeling over.

How else to react to the sight of sophisticated people saying, with impressively straight faces, that Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice president — even president — because she's been the mayor of a town of 6,000 residents (the population of Wasilla when she served there in a job that even she admitted was "not rocket science") and the governor of Alaska, which has only 100 times as many people and a legislature that meets a mere 90 days a year?

Wow, that's just devastating. So someone's leadership ability is proportional to their state's population. Who knew?

So let's work with that, Fred. That would make George W. Bush of Texas (2000 population: 21 million) a little bit more than three times as good a leader as Al Gore of Tennessee (2000 population: 6 million) or John Kerry of Massachusetts (2000 population: 6 million), wouldn't it? And almost twice as good a leader as Barack Obama of Illinois (2000 population: 12 million).

So let's turn to the other leadership metric that Fred's given us. The Texas Legislature meets for 140 days every two years, or 70 days per year on average. Since the Alaska Legislature meets 90 days each year, that must mean that Sarah Palin is a 28.5% better leader than George W. Bush, who's almost twice as good a leader as Barack Obama. So now we know that Sarah Palin's leadership ability isn't just comparable to Barack Obama's, it's well more than twice as good!

I really appreciate Fred Kaplan getting us started on this line of inquiry. Next week: Leadership ability as a proportional function of a candidate's home state's total land area!

(Or ... maybe Fred Kaplan is just being an elitist idiot.)

PS: Section 7 of the Alaska Constitution actually authorizes the Alaska Legislature to meet for 120 calendar days each year, but the voters of Alaska decided, through a 2006 ballot initiative, which then-gubernatorial candidate Palin supported, to restrict the Legislature to 90-day sessions. Fred Kaplan probably wouldn't see the point of that, either.

PPS: One of the oldest jokes in Texas is that the provision in the Texas Constitution calling for the Legislature to meet for 140 days every two years is actually a typo. It was actually supposed to read: "two days every 140 years."

PPPS: Ugliest thing I've ever seen Mickey Kaus write, of which he should be ashamed, also in Slate: "Trig is already becoming a bit of a prop, however." It would have been wrong to say that about JFK's kids. It would have been wrong to say that about Amy Carter. It would have been wrong to say that about Chelsea Clinton. It would be wrong now to say that about the Obama daughters. And it is at least equally wrong to say that about Trig Palin. Shame on you, Mr. Kaus.

Children and American politics have been intertwined since at least the days of John Adams, and they would have been sooner had George Washington not been childless. There is no legitimate fault to find in any of these politicians having their children in the audience or onstage with them after their speeches; to the contrary, it is a long-standing tradition. And it wasn't the Palin family who directed the TV coverage; rather, the professionals who do that recognized that the American public finds children to be telegenic and a relief from continuous pictures of either the speakers or the grown members of the audience. This is a shoddy criticism, unworthy of you, Mr. Kaus.