PALIN, STILL FAILING CIVICS 101

An exchange from "Sarah Palin Answers PEOPLE Readers' Questions":

If you could have one job in the White House tomorrow, what would it be? -- Alisha Cordoncillo, Copperas Cove, Tex.

It would be chief of staff, so I could start appointing people who would recognize those things that America needs to get our economy back on the right track and to secure our nation.

Yup, that's what she thinks: that the chief of staff actually has the authority to alter administration policy by making personnel decisions -- over the president's head.

Granted, until recently someone other than the president did have a job more or like that. But that was a special arrangement, and now Dick Cheney is out of office. Palin thinks it's in the chief of staff's job description.

I can't wait for the 2012 primary-season debates.