Fred Thompson on Palin: "Git 'er Done" Gal

Fred makes a very, very good case. He begins by quoting David Brooks.

He recently wrote that governance is hard. It requires acquired skills. Most of all it requires prudence. What is prudence? Among other things, it is the ability to absorb information and discern the essential current of events – the things that go together and the things that will never go together. It is the ability to engage in complex deliberations and to understand which arguments have the most weight. How is prudence acquired? Through experience. Experience allows a leader to judge what is important and what is not. He added, “Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter.”

And adds the parts that Brooks.....ahhhh.....forgot:

...there are other important qualifications, such as will, courage, and determination. Frankly, an infusion of these qualities into our body politic is desperately needed – not just to raise hell with the establishment, but to speak the hard truth about unpleasant choices facing our country. To push for choices that will, in the long term, benefit our country, our children and our grandchildren. In other words, things which “prudent” leaders are all too often reluctant to do

And, reprising his role on Law and Order, issues an indictment:

For many years we have failed to address looming problems that will prove catastrophic to our nation. It’s not because we are bereft of leaders with great experience. And it is not because they do not understand the “essential current of events.” They know these things all too well. It is because they do not have the political courage to do anything about it.

Such as the GSEs, over-spending, and the Social Security/Medicare nuclear bomb.

To Fred, and to normal Americans,

Wall Street and Washington were full of people who were “qualified and experienced” in the field of finance. Sen. Barack Obama, for one, has a great deal of experience in the housing field. So do many of his closest advisers. I would have traded some of that experience for a few more leaders with less experience and more courage to buck the establishment and tell the truth about what was happening

In other words, to Hell with the neatly-trimmed fingernails and perfect coif of George Will and the B-Yotch Ms. Parker, not to mention the assortment of fairies, social climbers, and twits on the Left side of the Press (and Government). Oh, they're knowledgeable--perhaps--about the Swamp, and the symphony and ballet, and which wine goes with brie.

As to courage, and the real task of getting it done, not so much.

HT: AmSpecBlog