Obama Says He Has More Natural Disaster Experience Than Palin...

[Alcon]

cinyc,

Has there been a state-managed natural disaster in Alaska during her governorship?  I'm trying to Google it, and haven't found anything, but honestly I don't know what to Google.

I think this is a lame thing to debate, but my goal this week is to learn more about Alaska

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

As a result, Obama did a nice job deflecting the question.

Aside from the humorous little comparison of the management of his campaign to the management of a natural disaster. 

[cinyc]

cinyc,

Has there been a state-managed natural disaster in Alaska during her governorship?  I'm trying to Google it, and haven't found anything, but honestly I don't know what to Google.

I think this is a lame thing to debate, but my goal this week is to learn more about Alaska

I'm not sure what you mean by state managed.  Things are not necessarily that simple.

The state coordinates with local governments and the federal government in disaster preparedness and relief.  For example, the Alaska Department of Forestry is responsible for forest fire protection in the most populated parts of Alaska, but no doubt coordinates with federal and local authorities to put out fires (or let them burn out, depending on the fire plan).  Local borough or city authorities may be first responders during flooding, but the state can pitch in with the National Guard, State Trooper and other assistance, if necessary, and coordinate with the local and federal authorities to bring greater aid.  The U.S. Coast Guard may be closer to a remote Aleutian Island in order to coordinate an evacuation when a volcano erupts, but the Alaska Volcano Institute which watches Alaska's volcanoes, is a joint federal-state project.

It's not that simple - which is one of the reasons why blaming President Bush for the Katrina response while ignoring Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin's significant role is bad partisan politics.

I don't think there's any question that Governor Palin has experience directly dealing with natural disasters while Obama, Biden and yes, even John McCain, do not.  She's signed disaster declarations - and can prove it.

Obama stuck his foot in his mouth here, if you ask me.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Obama's right. Running a national campaign for a year and a half now is certainly a greater test of one's executive acumen that being mayor of a town of 6,000.

Is it really that convenient to ignore Palin's time as Governor?

A governor, in a state with extreme weather, for one winter, has more disaster experience than Obama.

A snowstorm in Alaska hardly qualifies as a disaster. Just because warmer areas might be screwed because they don't have the snowplows and general knowledge to deal with a major snowstorm does not mean that it would be anything unusual in Alaska. Most of the population of Alaska is near certain cities, anyways. I hardly think that this sort of experience qualifies her to be Vice President.

We're not talking about VP experience , only experience in regard to disasters.

Snow shuts everything down (and this is from a guy that grew up in Western Pennylvania mountains).  Transportation gets killed; power goes out.  It's nasty.  Unless the last two winters in Alaska were exceptionally warm, Palin wins that one (Obama shoving, or paying someone, his front walk, doesn't count).

I'd suspect there were other as well; flooding possibly.

I've been through 40 inches of snow in upstate NY. It's an experience, but it hardly qualifies as a disaster. Upstate NY is just better at dealing with this than places further south, and Alaska would be better yet. This has nothing to do with who is governor, it's the local community that does the snowplowing.

[HardRCafé]

All snowstorms are not created equal.  When everyone is stuck at least twenty-four hours with no food or heat or toilet and the state is declared a disaster area by the U.S. Department of Transportation," snow is suddenly more than something to squirt fruit syrup on, even in a state that is used to it.

[Alcon]

cinyc,

Has there been a state-managed natural disaster in Alaska during her governorship?  I'm trying to Google it, and haven't found anything, but honestly I don't know what to Google.

I think this is a lame thing to debate, but my goal this week is to learn more about Alaska

I'm not sure what you mean by state managed.  Things are not necessarily that simple.

The state coordinates with local governments and the federal government in disaster preparedness and relief.  For example, the Alaska Department of Forestry is responsible for forest fire protection in the most populated parts of Alaska, but no doubt coordinates with federal and local authorities to put out fires (or let them burn out, depending on the fire plan).  Local borough or city authorities may be first responders during flooding, but the state can pitch in with the National Guard, State Trooper and other assistance, if necessary, and coordinate with the local and federal authorities to bring greater aid.  The U.S. Coast Guard may be closer to a remote Aleutian Island in order to coordinate an evacuation when a volcano erupts, but the Alaska Volcano Institute which watches Alaska's volcanoes, is a joint federal-state project.

It's not that simple - which is one of the reasons why blaming President Bush for the Katrina response while ignoring Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin's significant role is bad partisan politics.

I don't think there's any question that Governor Palin has experience directly dealing with natural disasters while Obama, Biden and yes, even John McCain, do not.  She's signed disaster declarations - and can prove it.

Obama stuck his foot in his mouth here, if you ask me.

Thanks!