It is ironic as hell that a party that has a goal of shrinking the government and a party that extols the virtues of the private sector as being a more powerful force than government should denigrate the role of community organizers. If the Republicans weren’t hypocrites they would hold up Obama as the exact kind of community leader that drives their small, local government agenda. Instead Sarah Palin mocked Obama as having some country club sort of a career, free from all responsibility.

Here one such community organizer responds.

Look — I think the experience argument is perfectly legitimate for everyone on the Presidential tickets. McCain spent the last 26 years not being a chief executive. Same with Biden. That doesn’t disqualify them in the slightest. Obama has a great resume. Sarah Palin has an impressive resume. Let’s grill them on their record and how it supports their ambitions.

As a side note, the bulk of Palin’s “executive experience” was managing a city with an annual budget around $10 million. To an order of magnitude I manage a budget that big at the company I own. Obama is managing a budget now, for his campaign, that spends more than that in a month. I think being a mayor is good experience and it looks just fine on her resume. But it’s not some trump card.