Inside the cover of the most recent issue of Newsweek, adorned by a rainbow haloed President Obama as the “first gay president,” is an article about New Mexico governor Susana Martinez. The article is largely positive piece about Governor Martinez’s compelling life story, her successes in the first year and a half of her term as governor, and what she could contribute to the national GOP as a whole and presumptive nominee Mitt Romney specifically.
However, author Andrew Romano does not miss an opportunity to take a gratuitous swipe at Governor Sarah Palin in the process (emphasis added):
In Washington, pundits are already whispering that Martinez is too much like her 2010 endorser Sarah Palin–an unfamiliar first-term female governor from a far-flung state–for the risk-averse Romney campaign to gamble on.
…Still, since taking taking [sic] office, Martinez has compiled a safe, conservative-friendly resume while methodically avoiding the sort of showy mistakes that sunk Palin in 2008. Even though some initiatives have fallen short, she has managed to cut spending by roughly $150 million without raising taxes, scale back the state workforce by more than 5 percent, ease environmental regulations, preserve tax breaks designed to attract large corporations, eliminate redundant taxes on small businesses, and increase local control over public schools by opting out of No Child Left Behind. “She’s been well-received in the state, but she has not come out a commanding winner in her battles with the Democratic legislature,” says Christine Sierra, a politics professor at the University of New Mexico. “So the jury is still out.”
The “showy mistakes that sunk Palin”? Huh? Is Romano referring to the fact that Governor Palin had the 6th best showing on unemployment in the country during her first year in office? Is he referring to the fact that Governor Palin helped put $5 billion in state savings while forward funding education to the tune of $2.6 billion prior to being selected to run with Senator McCain? Is Romano talking about how Governor Palin signed both ethics and oil tax reform in her first year in office? Maybe he sees vetoing more than a quarter billion dollars in superfluous spending in both 2007 and 2008 as a showy mistake? After all, it takes a lot of conspicuous errors to be the most popular governor in the country, right? Those are just some of the accomplishments, or, as Romano purports, “showy mistakes” that Governor Palin could tout prior to being selected as Senator McCain’s running mate.
Governor Martinez has indeed done impressive things during her tenure as New Mexico’s governor so far, just as Governor Palin did prior to (and following) her VP selection. A lot of parallels can be drawn between these two bold, corruption-fighting, free market populist conservative women, and that’s a good thing, despite what the pundits say. Romano adds nothing to his argument with his unsubstantiated claim of Palin’s supposed gubernatorial mistakes. As Tony Lee highlighted last week, the permanent political class and the media have tried to rewrite history on the Palin and the 2008 election when, despite media claims, she bolstered the GOP ticket and saved it from a horrible showing. Romano, it seems, wants to re-write history on Governor Palin’s impressive gubernatorial record. Why?
This unnecessary dig at Palin proves the ineptitude and corruption of the legacy media. Newsweek has chosen to provide a platform for someone like Andrew Sullivan, who questions that Trig Palin is Sarah Palin’s son, not only to write about President Obama’s “evolution” on gay marriage but to also write earlier this year about how dumb President Obama’s critics are. Another one of their contributors has compared Ann Romney to Hitler and Stalin, yet beyond the false claims about Governor Palin’s record and the over-the-top ad hominem attack on Ann Romney, there are some real issues that can be addressed.
Over the past nearly four years, the media have projected the lacking of vetting and limited accomplishments of Obama onto Governor Palin. The truth is President Obama’s tenure has been rife with “showy mistakes.” President Obama has yet to sign a full fiscal year budget (something Governor Palin did three times). Additionally, his $862 billion stimulus package passed in January of 2009, which his administration claimed would prevent unemployment from going over 8%, has left a record of 39 straight months of unemployment over 8% in its wake. Fifty-six percent of likely voters want Obamacare–the President’s signature piece of legislation–repealed. Solyndra? Lightsquared? Both are now bankrupt companies with campaign donor ties to President Obama that received either loads of taxpayer dollars or preferential treatment from the Obama administration. Fast and Furious? A gun walking scheme that has left a border patrol agent dead, more than a thousand guns missing, and the Obama administration culpable.
Newsweek has the opportunity to highlight some legitimate substantiated “showy mistakes”; it just requires them to remove the halo from the President.
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