Steve Flesher sizes up Palin and Bachmann as presidential contenders

"It is Sarah Palin whose time has come."
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In an American Thinker commentary, contributor Steve Flesher sums up the pluses and minuses of the Republican Party's two leading conservative women as presidential candidates. One key difference he finds is that while Bachmann has only recently been placed on the slide under the media's microscope, Sarah Palin has proven that not only can she handle the scrutiny, but she has corralled that same media onto a slide fixed under her microscope and invited the entire world to take a look. As a result, says Flesher, the 2008 vice presidential candidate has developed "a steel spine in dealing with it which matches her handling of dismayed establishment-politicians beholden to special interests." Both conservative women, he continues, are more than qualified to do battle with Barack Obama, make him a one-term president, and lead the nation to better and greater days.

However, after examining the objective evidence, Flesher concludes that the preponderance of it falls in Sarah Palin's favor. First, the author cites the historical fact that no President since James Garfield in 1880 has managed to move directly from a seat in the House of Representatives to the Oval Office. It's governors that American voters instinctively prefer because of their executive experience:

As a former governor, Palin vetoed $237M of wasteful spending under Alaska's billion-dollar annual budget. She proposed and often convinced the legislators on both sides of the aisle to reduce burdens on individuals and businesses by eliminating nuisance taxes and various bureaucratic road blocks to success like license fees and other unnecessary costs.

She achieved a record 88% approval rating by showcasing her independent streak of reaching across the aisle to Democrats in the legislative branch. Doing this made sure that fellow Republicans were, too, held accountable.

While one can appreciate Michele Bachmann's entrepreneurial experience as a job-creator, Palin's similar experience is now combined with that of an executive of a state. She knows how to utilize business experience for the greater good of job creators.

Further, as former head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC), Sarah Palin knows firsthand the complexities involved in dealing with often-stubborn oil giants. Her experience can be utilized to explore tapping into our own resources benefiting our economy, creating jobs, and making us less dependent on foreign sources.

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Since waiting around for the media to treat a good conservative candidate fairly is not likely to happen anytime soon, we have no choice but to accept it and fight back as we did in 2010.

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Flesher says such a mission promises to more easily accomplished with a candidate with years of dealing with a corrupt media in her logbook rather than with one who has not yet even managed to get acclimated to it. Whether the criteria is media wisdom, executive experience, or extensive knowledge and experience on issues like energy, Steve Flesher concludes that it is Sarah Palin whose time has come.

- JP