Obama’s credentials put Palin’s to shame

Rick Tope, Las Vegas

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

I must take issue with some of the statements of Steve G. Hayes in his letter in Wednesday’s Las Vegas Sun. He implies Barack Obama is nothing but a former community organizer and says Sarah Palin is “the successful chief executive of the largest state in our country.”

First, she’s not that successful as chief executive. She has been in office less than two years and is already embroiled in an ethics investigation. There have been other questionable actions, including her billing the state for “travel expenses” for 312 nights she spent at home.

Second, Alaska may be the largest state in area, but it ranks near the bottom in population with only 683,000 inhabitants, about one-third the population of the Las Vegas metro area.

Now let’s compare the educations of Obama and Palin. She took six years to graduate from the University of Idaho. Must have been quite a strain for her. Obama graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in political science with a specialization in international relations. He earned a doctorate from Harvard Law School, graduating at the top of his class. He was editor in chief of the Harvard Law Review. Obama went on to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Although Mr. Hayes seems to think Palin would be a better negotiator with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, after examining the credentials of each candidate, I would bet my money on the constitutional law professor. Palin may have some talents Obama lacks, but I doubt her famous ability to field-dress a moose would impress Putin.