Sarah Palin's Executive Experience: Real and Spectacular

Gov. Palin is second from the left front row.

See? I told you so.

Executive experience was a focus of the 2008 campaign. In the nascent days of my supporting Gov. Palin, I had noted that of the four people on both tickets, she was the only one with any executive experience whatsoever. The man at the top of her ticket - John McCain - has no executive experience. Neither did candidate Biden. Candidate Obama only had for his non-Senatorial (state and federal) resume, community organizing, and an editor's position on Harvard Law Review - though what he edited there remains a state secret. I have often written that while Obama was a fantastic fund-raiser and would have made a great used car salesman, he would not be fit to be president of the dealership.

One does not simply get executive experience. It is gained on a scale of progression. In the private sector, the first rung on the ladder to the executive suite is front line supervisor, then department manager, and so on.

Put aside "R," "D," right, left, liberal, and conservative. Obama never traveled this road in either the public or private sectors. He never held a leadership position of any kind. He never was even a front line supervisor. Today, Byron York, of the Washington Examiner vindicated my thoughts held since those fledgling days in "the Sarah business." York wrote, "Obama ignored Palin's experience as governor of Alaska, which was considerably bigger than the Obama campaign." Ridiculously, Obama cited as executive experience his campaign for President. York continued, "Fast forward to 2010. The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is gushing out of control. The Obama administration is at first slow to see the seriousness of the accident. Then, as the crisis becomes clear, the federal bureaucracy becomes entangled in itself trying to deal with the problem."

Obama's lack of executive experience prior to becoming POTUS could not be more painfully clear.

Sarah Palin: 20+ Years Executive Experience in the Public and Private Sectors



As Governor (Master List 2006 - 2008 and 2009), Sarah Palin managed a $14 billion budget. She knows how to compute the Net Present Value of a dollar and apply it to a state budget. Her financial administration was over a state whose revenue fluctuates widely, entirely dependent on the price of a barrel of oil.

She was co-commander-in-chief over the 49th Missile Defense Battalion, which performs ground-based interception of intercontinental ballistic missiles (nuclear missiles). This unit is on permanent full-time active duty. She was full commander-in-chief over the Alaska State Defense Force, which is a US Homeland Security-recognized to conduct counter-terror operations.

Her span of control encompassed tens of thousands of state employees. She held chairmanships and vice chairmanships. She worked her way to the top from city council to mayor, to governor, roles of increasing responsibility each time. She still runs a commercial fishing business with her husband. Years ago, she broke her hand on the job and went back to work the following day, gill-netting thousands of pounds of salmon. Most mere mortals would have been out of work six months.

Gov. Palin is an expert on international trade. Meetings with consuls, diplomats and other foreign dignitaries were routine business for her. Gov. Palin did not need a set of Twin Towers to operate her gubernatorial WTC. She was Alaska's Twin Towers.

Today, Gov. Palin is operating her own media empire consisting of a Fox News consultancy position, two special TV series, speaking engagements, and is working on a second book, after authoring a six-week best-seller. Driven out of the governor's office and nearly to bankruptcy by ethics complaints, nary 10 months later, Gov. Palin is reputed to have earned the equivalent to what she would earn serving six presidential terms.

She has become such a financial powerhouse, that New York Magazine penned a hit job titled, "Palin, Inc." The difference between us and them is that we celebrate Palin, Inc. We want to see Palin, Inc. expand. Earn even more income. Because we know, Palin, Inc. will re-invest the profits into serving our nation. And for Gov. Palin, make no mistake about it - at this point in her life - a presidential run truly is service - she would be taking a huge pay cut - to answer her summons.

Leftists: Masters of Sexism and Misogyny



Gov. Palin went to a horse race to bet on a horse named after her husband's nickname. The horse was the underdog and placed third. So, what did the sexist leftists report on? Gov. Palin's white tee shirt. Her hat. Reader commentary focused on the apparent size of a certain aspect of the female anatomy. Only Irish Central and our Missy Stewart bothered to draw a linkage to this story, Gov. Palin's prior overcoming of adversity and the trajectory her life is on.

Meanwhile, a group on Facebook suggests using Gov. Palin's body to plug the BP oil leak. Leftists yuk it up and find this humorous. Never mind that the Secret Service would pay a visit to anyone setting up such a group on Facebook in reference to any sitting president. Leftists routinely post their wishes for all manner of harm to come upon Gov. Palin. They find it amusing and all in good fun. They want to take away our guns, but they want Gov. Palin shot. They champion women's rights - "feminists" they call themselves - but they want Sarah Palin gang-raped.

Sarah Palin's Executive Experience: Real and Spectacular





Gov. Palin has accomplished much in her 46 years on this planet. US for Palin is re-constructing her entire life's accomplishments, a major but inspiring undertaking. Here, you will read about what a woman can do.

Everything about Gov. Palin is real and spectacular.

Sarah Palin: Less Talkin’, More Kickin’

Gov. Palin, today June 8, 2010 addressed the Obama administration's gross lack of action on the BP oil spill in a Facebook Note, the complete transcript of which follows:

50 days in, and we’ve just learned another shocking revelation concerning the Obama administration’s response to the Gulf oil spill. In an interview aired this morning, President Obama admitted that he hasn’t met with or spoken directly to BP’s CEO Tony Hayward. His reasoning: “Because my experience is, when you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he’s gonna say all the right things to me. I’m not interested in words. I’m interested in actions.”

First, to the “informed and enlightened” mainstream media: in all the discussions you’ve had with the White House about the spill, did it not occur to you before today to ask how the CEO-to-CEO level discussions were progressing to remedy this tragedy? You never cease to amaze. (Kind of reminds us of the months on end when you never bothered to ask if the President was meeting with General McChrystal to talk about our strategy in Afghanistan.)

Second, to fellow baffled Americans: this revelation is further proof that it bodes well to have some sort of executive experience before occupying the Oval Office (as if the painfully slow response to the oil spill, confusion of duties, finger-pointing, lack of preparedness, and inability to grant local government simple requests weren’t proof enough). The current administration may be unaware that it’s the President’s duty, meeting on a CEO-to-CEO level with Hayward, to verify what BP reports. In an interview a few weeks ago with Greta Van Susteren, I noted that based on my experience working with oil execs as an oil regulator and then as a Governor, you must verify what the oil companies claim – because their perception of circumstances and situations dealing with public resources and public trust is not necessarily shared by those who own America’s public resources and trust. I was about run out of town in Alaska for what critics decried at the time as my “playing hardball with Big Oil,” and those same adversaries (both shortsighted Repubs and Dems) continue to this day to try to discredit my administration’s efforts in holding Big Oil accountable to operate ethically and responsibly.

Mr. President: with all due respect, you have to get involved, sir. The priorities and timeline of an oil company are not the same as the public’s. You cannot outsource the cleanup and the responsibility and the trust to BP and expect that the legitimate interests of Americans adversely affected by this spill will somehow be met.

White House: have you read this morning’s Washington Post? Not to pile it on BP, but there’s an extensive report chronicling the company’s troubling history:

“BP has had more high-profile accidents than any other company in recent years. And now, with the disaster in the gulf, independent experts say the pervasiveness of the company’s problems, in multiple locales and different types of facilities, is striking.

‘They are a recurring environmental criminal and they do not follow U.S. health safety and environmental policy,’ said Jeanne Pascal, a former EPA lawyer who led its BP investigations.”

And yet just 10 days prior to the explosion, the Obama administration’s regulators gave the oil rig a pass, and last year the Obama administration granted BP a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) exemption for its drilling operation.

These decisions and the resulting spill have shaken the public’s confidence in the ability to safely drill. Unless government appropriately regulates oil developments and holds oil executives accountable, the public will not trust them to drill, baby, drill. And we must! Or we will be even more beholden to, and controlled by, dangerous foreign regimes that supply much of our energy. This has been a constant refrain from me. As Governor of Alaska, I did everything in my power to hold oil companies accountable in order to prove to the federal government and to the nation that Alaska could be trusted to further develop energy rich land like ANWR and NPR-A. I hired conscientious Democrats and Republicans (because this sure shouldn’t be a partisan issue) to provide me with the best advice on how we could deal with what was a corrupt system of some lawmakers and administrators who were hesitant to play hardball with some in the oil field business. (Remember the Alaska lawmakers, public decision-makers, and business executives who ended up going to jail as a result of the FBI’s investigations of oily corruption.)

As the aforementioned article notes, BP’s operation in Alaska would hurt our state and waste public resources if allowed to continue. That’s why my administration created the Petroleum Systems Integrity Office (PSIO) when we saw proof of improper maintenance of oil infrastructure in our state. We had to verify. And that’s why we instituted new oversight and held BP and other oil companies financially accountable for poor maintenance practices. We knew we could partner with them to develop resources without pussyfooting around with them. As a CEO, it was my job to look out for the interests of Alaskans with the same intensity and action as the oil company CEOs looked out for the interests of their shareholders.

I learned firsthand the way these companies operate when I served as chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC). I ended up resigning in protest because my bosses (the Governor and his chief of staff at the time) wouldn’t support efforts to clean up the corruption involving improper conflicts of interest with energy companies that the state was supposed to be watching. (I wrote about this valuable learning experience in my book, “Going Rogue”.) I felt guilty taking home a big paycheck while being reduced to sitting on my thumbs – essentially rendered ineffective as a supervisor of a regulatory agency in charge of nearly 20% of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.

My experience (though, granted, I got the message loud and clear during the campaign that my executive experience managing the fastest growing community in the state, and then running the largest state in the union, was nothing compared to the experiences of a community organizer) showed me how government officials and oil execs could scratch each others’ backs to the detriment of the public, and it made me ill. I ran for Governor to fight such practices. So, as a former chief executive, I humbly offer this advice to the President: you must verify. That means you must meet with Hayward. Demand answers.

In the interview today, the President said: “I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.”

Please, sir, for the sake of the Gulf residents, reach out to experts who have experience holding oil companies accountable. I suggested a few weeks ago that you start with Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, led by Commissioner Tom Irwin. Having worked with Tom and his DNR and AGIA team led by Marty Rutherford, I can vouch for their integrity and expertise in dealing with Big Oil and overseeing its developments. We’ve all lived and worked through the Exxon-Valdez spill. They can help you. Give them a call. Or, what the heck, give me a call.

And, finally, Mr. President, please do not punish the American public with any new energy tax in response to this tragedy. Just because BP and federal regulators screwed up that doesn’t mean the rest of us should get punished with higher taxes at the pump and attached to everything petroleum products touch.

- Sarah Palin

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