As I said before I do give Elisif some slack because shes grieving over the loss of her husband... however that's not an excuse for the inexperience in politics. If she did became High Queen of Skyrim shes going to be needing A LOT of counseling on proper politics. Does Skyrim really need to have a Queen to come at pace or does Skyrim needs experience? That's why Ulfric is the suitable for the title of High King. He knows how to lead base on past experience. He already showed his leadership when he help Igmund retake back the reach from the forsworn. Experience matter. If the dominion came barging to Skyrim what is Elisif going to do? Throw brooms at them? She has no battle experience. Ulfric is right in respect that she will hand over skyrim to the elves on a silver plate.
As far as Balgruuf... Little to no information is given to us about him, and with his piss poor attitude about “Oh I don't care who the imperials want to execute” shows me how little he cares for his people. If the imperials were executing babies this man wouldn't have a care in the world.
I don't think I actually said mourning her husband had anything to do with political experience?
I agree that she's inexperienced militarily, but I don't think that makes her a bad person or a totally unfit Jarl/Queen. I don't see any immediate examples of any horrific incompetence on her part. Some in Solitude may say she's easily lead, but all I can actually see is a poised and somewhat reserved leader who's having to deal with quite a bit at the current moment. Given Solitude's long-standing connections to the Empire, I hardly see how it's at all surprising that Tullius and the military portion of the government would be closely associated. Again, I don't think that means she's a hapless puppet.
Comparing her to Ulfric is dangerous territory. As I alluded to earlier in my Lost in Space post, it's a hare's breath away from reigniting the Civil War debate, which I do not wish to do here given the plethora of threads for that madness. I will say that what I
have seen of Ulfric and Elisif's rules comparatively, Elisif will win every time, because for one thing, at least she's not openly apathetic toward a portion of her constituency. There's no comparable Gray Quarter situation in Solitude. The overall social climate there is hardly the same. You can argue (as I know people will) til the cows come home that Ulfric is justified, yadda yadda, but the fact remains that that is essentially shrugging off mandated segregation and a shirking of a Jarl's full duties to all in his Hold. And I'm not just speaking of the Dark Elf situation. There's also the issue of lack of aid to those outside of the city but within Eastmarch as well - those who aren't Nords. But anyway, I'm doing my best not to retread those paths in this thread for now. All I'll say is that experience in a leader is one thing, but if it's co-opted for less than admirable/positive ends, it counts for naught.
As for dismissing Balgruuf out of hand like that, I seriously have to wonder why and how anyone could do that. Please tell me when he said, "I don't care who the Imperials want to execute" and all of that. Because the Balgruuf in the game
I played was very, very keen and serious about coming to the aid of his people on more than one occasion.
