Re: Obama and anti-corruption, what’s so small-potatoes about The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, which he co-authored (with a republican I believe) and got passed in 2006? It’s not the sexiest piece of legislation, but it’s been pretty useful in tracking pork-barrel spending.
And speaking of pork-barreling, it’s funny. One of the reasons Palin is so popular as Alaska governor has been because she’s been very effective in getting earmarks for her state. In fact a lot of her spending proposals have ended up on McCain’s annual list of evil Congressional earmarks. Which isn’t a reason not to vote for the ticket, necessarily, but it’s kind of ironic. She’s spent a lot of time in Alaska boasting about her ability to wrest federal funds– exactly the kind of practice the McCain / Palin ticket is making so much noise about ending.
In any case, I don’t think it’s too hard to be a popular governor when you’re in a state with something like a $5 billion budget surplus and you send $1200 oil bonus checks to every resident.
None of which directly speaks to her qualifications or lack thereof, but it’s the kind of thing people should keep in mind. (And despite all the silly noise about Bristol, etc., I really do wish the McCain campaign would give journalists more access to ask questions to her about these meat-and-potatoes kind of governance issues)
