Mary Fallin gave a speech at Harvard and is apparently a 2016 presidential candidate…

Mary Fallin delivered a speech at Harvard last night. Yes, THE Harvard University. Not Harvard on May or that road in Tulsa. The prestigious American university that’s produced eight presidents, 21 US supreme court justices and the Winklevoss twins.

The speech wasn’t publicized. In fact, the local media didn’t report it until yesterday afternoon. From The Tulsa World via the AP:

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin is heading to Boston to deliver the keynote address at Harvard University’s conference on education and workforce development.

Fallin will be among the speakers Monday during the conference titled “Creating Pathways to Prosperity.”

The governor says she plans to focus on recent education reforms in Oklahoma and the strength of the state’s career and technology centers.

The Creating Pathways to Prosperity conference features national business, government and education leaders.

At first I was going to question why we’re just now hearing about this, but I guess you can’t blame the Governor’s handlers for keeping the trip secret. For one, Mary Fallin takes a lot of flack for her travel schedule. And two, they probably find the entire idea to be just as ridiculous and silly as we do. Mary Fallin and Harvard go together like cats and dogs, oil and vinegar, and KFOR and award winning journalism. To make it even better, she apparently talked about the “strengths” of Oklahoma’s “career and technology centers.” Basically, our Governor flew to Harvard to promote vo-techs (and probably tour Fenway Park and other touristy things). That’s very fitting and very sad.

Also, when did Mary Fallin become a national expert on “Creating Pathways to Prosperity?” Her biggest accomplishment since becoming Governor is blocking healthcare funding for the poor. Hell, she hasn’t even been able to lower state income taxes for the rich. It seems like the only thing Mary Fallin knows about prosperity is marrying an eccentric dentist and/or wealthy workmans comp attorney. Also, can she share with us some of the education reforms that have worked out so well? Don’t we rank in the bottom half of everything? I’d like to hear about them.

Anyway, I tried to dig up more information about her speech but my Google search came up dry. I did, however, stumble across this list of 16 women who might run for president in 2016. Mary Fallin was one of them:

Via the Huffington Post:

A former lieutenant governor, member of Congress and current governor of Oklahoma, Republican Mary Fallin would bring solid conservative credentials to the GOP ticket. She won her gubernatorial race easily in 2010 and will reach her term limit if she runs and wins in 2014. A Fallin candidacy in 2016, however, would run the risk of bringing about comparisons to Sarah Palin’s in 2008 — as a deeply religious, female governor of a sparsely populated and reliably conservative state. She even received Palin’s endorsement in 2010.

In all fairness, the list from The Huffington Post is more a run down of notable women in politics designed to generate page views and links from local blogs than it is a serious list of presidential candidates, but still, it’s kind of funny to see the national media take our Governor seriously. Ask any Oklahoman, even a die hard conservative, if they think Mary Fallin has a future in presidential politics and they’ll probably laugh a little and ask for a hit off your joint. Then again, they’d probably do the same thing if you told them she was giving a speech at Harvard, so who knows what will happen.