In her acceptance speech, Sarah Palin sneered at Barack Obama by saying, “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.”

Let’s look at their respective records.

Obama brought people together in a poor neglected Chicago community to get potholes filled, asbestos out of public housing, and glass out of sandboxes in public parks. Working with churches in the community, he helped organize relief for the families of steelworkers who had lost their jobs when the plant closed.

As mayor of the small town of Wasilla, Palin raised the sales tax to build a hockey rink in a town that didn’t have a sewage treatment plant, and tried to get the town librarian fired when she wouldn’t ban books Palin disapproved of. John McCain praises Palin for being a maverick and lowering taxes. She did. She lowered them on businesses, but increased them for residents. Some maverick.

Campaigning for governor of Alaska, Palin supported the $223 million congressional earmark to build “the bridge to nowhere.” After she was elected, she claims she told Congress, “Thanks but no thanks” to building the bridge. But you know what? She kept the money.

Ann Adams

Oak Harbor