In contrast to the blathering drivel about cosmetics on farm animals, the New York Times has published a detailed review of Sarah Palin's political leadership style based on her experience in Alaska.

Finally, some in-depth research and analysis of how she has approached her role as Mayor and Governor.

It is worth a read.

The article takes a critical tact, but that is appropriate. It would have been nice if it had been done concerning the leadership style of our current Veep ... before he took office.

Governor Palin takes a similar approach to leadership to what we've seen from the Bush administration: loyalty is favored over expertise, disloyalty is punished harshly, and secrecy is paramount.

We have seen what that approach does to good governance over the past 8 years. Four more years will lead to further fraying of our social covenant with our government.

The New York Times does have a journalistic bias: in general, they favor openness and transparency because those are important values to journalists (it makes their jobs easier). And there are occasional sentences that belie a secular bias ("The new mayor also tended carefully to her evangelical base. She appointed a pastor to the town planning board." -- so? Ministers are often also leaders in the community). But overall, the piece is well-written and well-researched. And it shows that a Palin Administration would be loaded with friends and loyalists who use political power to exert personal goals (and not just obtaining sexual favors from interns).

I hope this article stimulates a discussion about what kind of leadership we want from our next administration. We deserve better than another four years of leaders who use political power to advance personal issues. Our government works for us. As a young politician from Illinois once put it, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people."