I’ll keep this as brief as possible. Recently I was talking with a friend of mine about the differences between President Barack Obama and former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin. His argument was that as far as he was concerned, politically, they were both the same; idiots. First off I was proud to hear someone criticize Obama and not pull the race card. Being from Idaho and now living in London I’ve had all kinds of people including my father go on and on about issues that wouldn’t possibly exist if Obama was white or even such premises that if Palin wasn’t a woman she’d have more credibility. Fair enough. Eventually I’ve formed a bit of thick skin to subjects like this as well as all the conspiracy theories regarding whether or not Obama is actually a Muslim or even a US citizen and on a lesser note, if Palin’s new born is actually hers and not her daughters. I’ve said it before and I believe it now, conspiracy theories will always find fertile ground with the weak minded. Looking for truth on the internet? Go to WikiLeaks or snopes or pay to get a better security clearance with janes.com. Where was I? Oh yeah, Obama vs. Palin. Both of them were born in out of the way places that some people don’t associate with producing leadership quality citizens. Obama in Hawaii and Palin in Sandpoint Idaho. I think both places have their redeeming qualities for producing “out of the box” thinking. King Kemehameha of Hawaii did a pretty good job uniting the natives of the Hawaiian Islands and then defending them from the outsiders. Also Hawaii was brought into the US fold by negotiation and not by force. Nice, to see what was possible before cluster bombs and drones. On the other hand Idaho has a very large Mormon community and in the beginning they didn’t take shit from no one. They had such a history of being persecuted that they even went so far as dressing up as natives and murdering anyone who came near them. As far as leaders from the region in north Idaho where Sarah was born history has shown that people in north Idaho get shit done no matter what. A railroad needed to be built to transport ore out of collection of valleys near the Montana border so the local mines hired a crowd of Chinese labor fresh from the east west rail project and got it done. Sure it’s regrettable that they hung them all after they were finished but…well there is no but, that just sucks. Maybe it was some sort of karma payback for the Hawaiians killing Captain Cook. Moving on, Obama in his youth left the US to visit foreign countries like Indonesia to expand his horizons. Palin did the same though that foreign location was Alaska (don’t get me wrong, Alaska is amazing and if more people would visit it they might appreciate being warm more often) and later she and her family would visit Canada and the reason her family did visit Canada, by her own admission, was to take advantage of Canada’s free health care. Later on both would expand their horizons by attending university. Obama went to Harvard which say what you want about Ivy League schools it does give one a leg up even if the world thinks you’re an idiot (GW Bush? I’m looking a bit towards your way). Oddly enough Palin did a bit of school in Hawaii and it’s too bad she and Obama couldn’t find common ground there with such things like eating warm Malasadas at Leonard’s in Honolulu (don’t ever pass this up, ever). Palin came back to North Idaho and first went to North Idaho Junior College aka N.I.C. in Coeur d’Alene Idaho and then on to the University of Idaho in Moscow Idaho. Now don’t get me wrong, N.I.C. ain’t a bad place. I know as I myself took classes there and found them interesting. Granted I was still in high school at the time but that’s not the point. I too attended and graduated from the University of Idaho. The U of I is a really good school if you’re planning on getting a degree in forestry or mining or engineering. Maybe that’s why my degree was in music composition. I’m an idiot but damn it was fun. Sarah thought this out a little more than me and got her degree in communications. A degree that allowed her to sit in front of a camera and read sport scores off of a teleprompter in Alaska. You can’t blame her for using a teleprompter as sport scores are important to get right the first time almost like a state of the union address. After graduation Obama went on to wear bad hats, be called Barry and eventually run for public office. Obama went on to win a seat in the US senate but Palin was not far behind and did get elected to run a town in Alaska called Wasilla, a town of almost 9,000. I’ve been to Wasilla Alaska and done shows there with the late Mitch Hedberg. They hissed at my jokes and just starred at Mitch (crap I really miss that guy sometimes). Sarah went on to be elected governor of Alaska but would resign as Fox news pays better and Alaska is just too far away for people like Glen Beck to take seriously. I could on and on as some people feel the need to do to prove one is above the other but for me personally, the biggest difference between Obama and Palin is I’m pretty sure Obama never went skiing at a ski hill in Kellogg Idaho formally called Silverhorn in the eighties, get drunk and have sex with me in the back of a 1979 Cadillac Fleetwood. Sorry Sarah, if that was really you I should’ve called after. My bad.