The inspirational president *UPDATED*

Yesterday, Mr. Bookworm and I found ourselves in a car heading south.  As we passed the Marriott at which Sarah Palin spoke (a speech I got to hear in person), this dialog ensued:

Me:  That’s where Sarah Palin spoke.

Mr. Bookworm:  Really?  Are you still going to tell me that she wouldn’t have been a disaster as Vice President?

Me:  I think she would have made a fine Vice President.  She certainly would have been better than Joe Biden.  Say, did you hear what he said the other day?  He said he was the best Vice President since, well, anybody.  [I mangled the quote a little bit.  This is what he actually said:  “I’m the most experienced vice president since anybody.”]

Mr. Bookworm:  That’s so not true.  He never said that.  You live in right wing fantasy world.  I defy you to find that for me.  Anyway, Palin would have been a laughingstock.

Me:  Come on.  She has more executive experience than Obama and you voted for him.

Mr. Bookworm:  That is a totally specious argument.  This is not about executive experience.

Me:  Yes, it is.  The president is the executive office.

Mr. Bookworm:  That is total B.S.  The presidency has nothing to do with being an executive.

Me:  Babe, it’s in the Constitution.  The President is the “executive.”

Mr. Bookworm:  That doesn’t mean anything anymore.  Presidents aren’t really executives.  The office is inspirational.  All the best Presidents haven’t been executives; they’ve been inspirational leaders.

This interesting conversation ended abruptly at this point when one of the kids started throwing up in the back seat, but I certainly would have liked to have pursued it.

UPDATED:  Just got off the phone from a call with another relative, a very liberal gal who lives in a liberal enclave back East.  After listening to her soundly berating Sarah Palin for being an idiot because she doesn’t speak well and lauding Obama because he does, I asked her my standard question:  “What has Obama accomplished?”  Her answer:  “He’s an inspirational symbol.  He doesn’t need to have accomplished anything.”

Are they all reading from the same playbook or have they all independently arrived at the conclusion that this is the only possible answer to cover Obama’s abysmal lack of concrete accomplishments?