Vincent J. Curtis
16 Aug 12
Several weeks ago former Vice-President Dick Cheney made
some deprecatory-sounding remarks concerning Sarah Palin, former Alaskan
governor and Vice-Presidential running mate in 2008 of Senator John McCain. Mr. Cheney said, in effect, that Sarah Palin
was not ready to assume the presidency in 2008 and that perception dragged down the
McCain-Palin ticket, despite her selection being initially hailed as a
coup by McCain.
There is truth in Mr. Cheney’s comments that that was the
perception concerning Palin, and that perception may have contributed in a small way towards
the loss of the Republicans in 2008. One
can disregard the double standard concerning Palin and the Democratic ticket of
Obama and Biden. In recent days Vice
President Joe Biden has demonstrated why he will never be ready for the office
of president, and nobody asked about Biden’s fitness in 2008. Even worse was the failure to ask whether
Barack Obama was ready, given that his resume was thinner than Palin’s he was
actually going to be the president if his ticket won the election whereas Palin
was only going to be the Vice-President.
Obama spoke well, and that was all that was necessary for people to
assume that he was up to the task.
Now that Barack Obama has had four years in office, it might
be useful to compare what would have happened if Palin had become president on
January 20th, 2009, instead of Barack Hussein Obama.
There would have been no “porkulus” package of $800 billon,
and the concomitant rise in the base budget of that amount in succeeding
years. The US deficit after 2009-10 to
today would be nowhere near $1 trillion each year. In addition, the increase in the US national
debt would be less than half the $5 trillion it has grown under Obama simply
because the deficits would have been lower.
There would have been no “Obamacare.” If there was health care legislation at all
that passed the Democratic congress in 2009-10, it would have been along the
lines of enabling the purchase of insurance across state lines. A bill for tort reform might have been
introduced, but would have been defeated in the Congress.
There would be no “Dodd-Frank” legislation. Palin would have vetoed it.
Palin would have worked night and day to revive the economy,
drill for oil and natural gas, and reduce the federal deficit. She apparently doesn't play golf.
The Keystone XL pipeline would have been approved.
Various states would not be attacked by the US Department of
Justice for enacting voter ID laws to stem voter fraud, and for state laws
supporting US immigration enforcement.
The business-friendly climate of a Palin Administration
would have seen the economy revive in 2010 as it did under Obama, but the recovery would not have stalled out
due to fears of heavy new taxes, regulations, and harassment through
Administration policies and presidential rhetoric.
The revival of the economy would be helped along by
encouragement of drilling for oil and natural gas on Federal lands.
The 2011-12 Congress would likely have remained in
Democratic hands because there would have been no adverse reaction to Democrat
control of the government from 2009-10.
Gitmo would remain open.
(Oh, it still is!)
The war in Iraq would have wound down in exactly the same
fashion, and the war in Afghanistan would be further along to conclusion
because Palin would have given General Patreaeus all the troops he asked for.
The Arab Spring might have taken a different turn since
Palin would not have given new and confusing signals concerning US support.
The Islamic regime in Iran might have been overthrown in
2009 since Palin would have spoken out in support of the democratic will of the
people of Iran in the riots following the fraudulent election.
Palin might not have been ready for the office of president
in January, 2009; but neither was Harry Truman in April, 1945. Simply by not making the mistakes based on
wrong policy and ideology, Palin would have done a better job as president than
Obama has done. The country would have
been better off and, oddly, so would the Democratic party.
