Chief Executive

A week ago I did a post on "you know you are a political junkie when...". I need to add one more. You know you are a political junkie when you start thinking of answers you wish your candidate would give.

Today Barack answered a question on lack of executive experience by delivering the answer I had written for him in my head. (no wonder I haven't finished my Performance Appraisals that are due this week). Barack's response was to look at the way he has run his campaign. In a little more than a year, he has hired hundreds of people, built a fund raising machine that has out raised the Clinton machine, and has built a campaign that has held it's own despite having started with a serious gap in name recognition vs the Clintons. He also noted that neither McCain nor Clinton had previous executive experience.

Conversely, Andrew Sullivan writes in his blog about Hillary's executive experience:


She's supposed to have experience? Check this out:

Over the last seven years, Clinton had raised $175 million for her reelection and her presidential campaign. But Solis Doyle didn't tell Clinton that there was next to no cash on hand until after the New Hampshire primary.

"We were lying about money," a source said. "The cash on hand was nothing."

In turn, Clinton didn't tell Solis Doyle that she was lending her own money to keep the campaign afloat. Solis Doyle found out third-hand. And when she asked Clinton about it, the senator told her she couldn't understand how the campaign had gotten to such a point.

Ambers has a similar story to tell. The reason underlings lie about things is because they're scared and don't want to upset the boss. Think Bush and Iraq. Or Bush and everything. You want another executive like that in the White House? The kind who does not want to hear bad news?

Clearly, Hillary's first opportunity to show her executive experience was underwhelming. For that matter if you think about the near bankruptcy and mass firings and resignations early in the McCain camp you would have to say his executive experience was even worse. He is far more effective as a candidate when he is doing everything but driving the Straight Talk Express. Is that the kind of executive he would be?

Little things tell a lot about a candidate. From what I see from the way they run their campaign, Barack will hire a bunch of competent people and give them latitude to do their jobs but hold them accountable. Hillary will run a White House that will be full of infighting and turf wars (Bill's crowd vs Hill's crowd). John McCain will run a White House where he turns over his staff quickly and is in a constant state of chaos.

That was a Great answer Barack, couldn't have written it better myself.