he site Politico tells us that scholars question Sarah Palin’s credentials.  So, of course, we know that the truth and nothing but the truth is their only concern.  Other groups with opposing opinions no doubt engage in spin and distortion but not scholars who, by their very nature, are unquestionably objective and forthright.  Now, in one sense, the scholars are telling us what anyone with an ounce of thoughtfulness already knows, namely that in terms of actual experience Sarah Palin has very little experience by comparison to many other politicians.  In the exact words of one of the scholars:

Presidential scholars say she appears to be the least experienced, least credentialed person to join a major-party ticket in the modern era.

Surely, their assessment of Palin now has a certain gravitas.

Bearing this honest and forthright report in mind, I set out to learn about Senator Obama’s experience; and within no time, I was richly informed.  The site Obamapedia.Org informs us that:

Obama's foreign policy experience includes graduating from Columbia University with a degree in political science with an emphasis on international relations.

Now, I should point out that Columbia is where Obama obtained his undergraduate degree.  I should also point out that majoring in political science even with an emphasis on international relations—even at Columbia University—no more counts as foreign policy experience than my flying back-and-forth across the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger in a Boeing 777 counts as experience in piloting that aircraft or, for that matter, any aircraft. 

I just want to make the simple observation: When people want to say something nice, they can find a way to package just about anything in a positive manner.  Likewise, when people want to say something vicious, they can find a way to package just about anything in a negative manner. 

By contrast: If I like you, then you display enormous self-confidence.  Moreover, in responding to questions, you show impressive incisiveness and quickness of mind.  If, by contrast, I do not like you, then I am apt to find the exact same behavior an indication of your insufferable arrogance and our unwillingness to take seriously other points of view—nay, your obvious disdain for the views of others. 

One would have thought that whether a person had experience or not was a matter of hard objective truth.  Alas, whether a person has experience or not is much more like the distinction between self-confidence and arrogance, in that the actual assessment depends much more on what the person making the assessment is like than on what the actual truth of the matter is.  This reality of American politics is utterly and unequivocally despicable.  The brazen and blatant hypocrisy of it all is most disconcerting.