Keeping Things in Perspective

Sarah Palin did a great job delivering her acceptance speech last night to the GOP Convention, but it was clearly a sermon for the choir, long on juvenile jabs that rallied the credulous crowd but that fall apart under scrutiny. One example:

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

So let's think about this. She was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, managing a small paid staff and a part-time volunteer city council, serving about 7000 constituents. Barack Obama was editor of the Harvard Law Review, managing a small paid staff and a part-time volunteer editorial board, serving about 8000 subscribers. Sounds fairly comparable to me in terms of executive experience and responsibility.

Hilzoy of Obsidian Wings has thorough fact-check on Palin's speech, responding to it line by line, so I'll just point you to that fine work.