Martin & Co. EST 1992: September 2008

Now that my boys have gone back to school and left me home alone during the day I have decided to go back to work. I have been blessed with a wonderful opportunity to be an enrollment councilor for Grand Canyon University. I am impressed with everything this school offers. I am excited to be part of it. This also allows me to FINALLY finish my B.S. degree and get an MBA. I am totally stoked about this opportunity.

Tom and the boys are totally supportive of this. Tom has been so helpful in getting me out the door in the mornings and the boys off to school. Tom, Tanner and I have managed to fit in jogging in the morning before work and school. It has been awesome.

It does make things busy. When I get home I have to fix dinner, help with home work and keep the laundry moving. I do my best to keep the boys on their sleep schedule. Spencer has cub scouts on Thursdays and a special reading group right after. Tanner has scouts or YM's on Tuesday evenings and Chinese class on Thursday evenings. Basketball starts up in October for both boys. So we keep busy and understand now more than ever the importance of a weekly calendar meeting to go over everyone's schedule.

I am so excited for this opportunity. I feel like it is an opportunity to make myself a better person and by doing so maybe helping others grow and develop their strengths.

Immediately after McCain's surprise pick of Sarah Palin as his VP Obama's fans in the media began attacking Alaska's governor as being a poor VP pick because she is completely unqualified to be President. Every allegation of lack experience thrown at Palin by the media actually applies to Obama just as much as it applies to Palin. Palin has nearly a decade of executive experience as mayor and governor as well business experience in the private sector. Obama has neither. But rather than look at what jobs Obama and Palin have had it is far more enlightening to look at what they have done in their current and previous jobs and how they got them.

Palin challenged her own party, blowing the whistle on corruption in Alaska's old boy network. This is not usually how one ascends to the top post in your state. In fact, standing up for what's right against powerful incumbents is often a career ending decision. But Palin did the right thing despite her career. (We don't really know her motives, but it's either what I just wrote or she's an evil freaking genius.) I believe Palin did the right thing career be damned and voters appreciated her back bone and values. Now she's the youngest governor in the history of Alaska.

Contrast Palin's career path to Obama's. Obama came to power in Chicago, the most liberal and nepotistic city in the country. This is the city where the phrase "vote early and often" was born. So how did Obama rise to power in this liberal and corrupt political environment? He embraced it.

Obama launched his political career in the home of former terrorist Bill Ayers. Bill wasn't a guy who made a one-time mistake, he was the founder of the Weather Underground organization which bombed the US capital and planned to bomb the pentagon. A few years ago when a reporter asked Ayers if he had regrets about his terrorist past he responded that not only did not regret bombing the Capital building, he felt like he and Weatherman didn't do enough.

Obama basically lied when asked about Ayers and said he was just a guy that lived in his neighborhood. In fact Ayers gave Obama one of his first jobs as the director of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) which spent over $100 million to improve Chicago's schools with no measurable impact. The records for the CAC have just been released, but I'm afraid all the records showing a connection between Ayers and Obama have been removed and destroyed.

Even though Jeremiah Wright damned the very country Obama now seeks to lead, Obama sat in Wright's church for years and said nothing. Obama didn't challenge Ayers or Wright because these were the very men who gave Obama his start in politics.

Either Obama is an extreme radical with the same politics as Ayers and Wright and his move to the middle is the biggest con job in history or Obama is a purely political animal with no foundation of values who simply seeks advantage in whatever situation he's in. My guess is that both are true. I believe Obama is much liberal than his platform suggests in an effort to appeal to mainstream America and he's the kind of person who is intelligent enough to constantly consider how is words and actions will impact his long term career and makes adjustments accordingly.

This was evident the last debate where McCain gave straight forward answers where as Obama talked around issues. On abortion McCain took a stand and said he was pro life. Obama indicated he was pro choice but also said the issue of when human life begins was "above my pay grade." What job is Obama applying for again?

Obama befriended political radicals (not radical by Chicago standards, but definitely radical by mainstream America standards) correctly believing they could help him launch his political career in Chicago. Only later, after entering national politics, did Obama condemn the very politics that launched his career. Did Obama suddenly have a change of heart about Wright and Ayers? More likely he simply didn't need them anymore.

The contrast between Palin and Obama is striking. Palin rocked the boat challenging members of her own party to end political corruption in Alaska. Obama managed to navigate the political waters of Chicago without making so much as a ripple. Even his most ardent supporters cannot name an accomplishment outside of becoming President of the Harvard Law Review, getting elected to the Illinois Senate, getting elected to the US Senate and becoming the Democratic nominee. But what did Obama accomplish in these jobs other than give wonderful speeches and plan his next career move? Even his supporters don't have an answer.

Some may think Palin's resume isn't long enough to qualify her as the next VP of the United States. But perhaps no job experience compares with being the VP or the President and instead of experience we should instead be looking at character instead. Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were great presidents because of their character, not because of their prior job experience. Palin's fights against political corruption offer ample evidence of a solid ethical and moral foundation.