Is anyone else sick of the experience argument already?
Posted on September 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am by David Kaiser, EditorBecause I am.
Today, broadsides on the experience issue came from both sides, with Barack Obama claiming to have more experience than Sarah Palin, and John McCain saying that his running mate has more experience than Obama.
Guess what kids none of these people have the skills, experiences or preparation to President of the United States. Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, John McCain and Joe Biden all have bullet points on the resume that will help them do the job, but the fact is, there is absolutely no job in the world like being President of the United States.
Each of the tickets have strengths and weaknesses, and enough of both to lob media bombs at each until we get a negative campaign winter like no other in history. You think you’ve seen mutually assured destruction before?
So here is my message to the campaigns:
Start talking about the issues and stop talking about each other.
Move from the high school lunch room pubescent garbage to the professional, we-have-a-job-to-do-and-this-is-how-we-plan-to-do-it stage, because frankly, I’m ready to write in a ticket of Wright/Fountain at this point.
There hasn’t been a candidate I felt truly good about pulling the lever for since I was 18 years old, and frankly, it wasn’t all that great a vote in retrospect.
Is the age of a smart, principled, honorable and tough candidate over?
Because I just don’t see it in any of these four.
12 Comments
Leave a comment
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
What is Obama thinking? He’s defending himself against Sarah Palin? He does realize he needs to contrast himself with John McCain, right?
YES, I AM!!!!
Get on to something else. Palin is running for VP, not POTUS, she only has to break a tie in the senate (Not likely), go visit other nations, campaign, and sack out in her wing of the WH. If Mccain wants her as a counselor, even better.
Note to Obama: She is no longer a Mayor, she is a governor and handles a bigger budget than your campaign.
Lets get to the issues that affect Americans. I want to hear about health care, I am sick of Insurace giving people a hassle. Get on about drilling (Mccains best person to handle this is Palin, as long as he converts to drilling in the 2000 acres of millions that are up to drill, but congress is preventing. 2000 acres of millions!!!!
Forget the not experienced argument, and leave bristol alone.
Stop playing politics and explain why we need to elect you as POTUS
I’ve been thinking about this, too. But I have turned the argument over. The Constitution says 35-yrs.-old. is enough experience.
All four have enough experience to be President. I know, quantity and quality is important; but what’s wrong with youth?
Have the candidates given us records of choices that give us a feel for who they are? I think so.
I agree that the experience argument is lame. Just let us know who you are, what you stand for (and have stood for), and what you would like to accomplish in office. We’ll take it from there.
“… there is absolutely no job in the world like being President of the United States.”
Exactly. The only people “qualified” to take the office are those who have already served in the office. Otherwise, we have to look at key indicators that will predict their performance in office.
Frankly, I believe that members of Congress make lousy candidates and lousy presidents, but that’s just my opinion.
Fifteen senators have gone on to become President. Only two have moved directly from Senate to White House (Harding and Kennedy). Sixteen Governors have become President.
The problem is Rick, that key indicators are not always indicative of performance.
Honestly, there isn’t a large enough body of work to know if a Senator makes a worse President than a Governor.
There are only two sitting Senators that have been elected President, and none since 1960.
You can’t sit there and honestly tell me that a Governor makes a better President than a senator because you have nothing to compare it to.
Start talking about the issues and stop talking about each other
Thank you for saying this, I’ve been screaming this at my TV for months now. Stragely enough, the TV never screams back, but the Mister does tell me the neighbors can hear….
Amen and Amen. If experience were the real issue, Palin would not be VP. The real issue for McCain is trying to appeal to the right wing conservative Republicans, the Libertarian ex-Republicans, and the Women who voted for Hillary. That’s why he picked Palin. We get it. Move on.
Isn’t the point of politics to argue about the details that don’t really matter, rather than working towards any real progress and accomplishing stuff? I apparently need a wake-up call.
I suppose that all the debate
On all things relevant and not,
Is the result of our system
Or, at least, its what we got.
My main man, Thomas Jefferson had
Visions of a constant revolution;
Maybe that would have been better
Than perenial noise pollution.
You bet I’m tired of most all of it
And, I’m just ready to vote today!
But, I’ll have to endure it all,
Ad nauseum, that they have to say.
Whodat believes we should declare a national “Quiet Game” for one month
i agree, let’s take this experience out of it and talk about these people are going to DO
higher taxes or lower taxes?
national health care or market solutions?
big government or limited?
forget experience, it’s about PLANS
Hey, some experience is nice. Biden shares the same score on the experience chart as McCain, but JMac is the top of the ticket and Biden isn’t.
Obama brings zip to the table and is dependent on everyone around him, elected or otherwise.
Palin is refreshing and she has experience managing as a chief executive. Grant it, two years isn’t much but its light years more than either Biden or McCain and a pile more than Obama.
Both tickets are in fact, a team. You have to take both as a package and know that the Presidency is an on-the-job training program.
Obama is more handicapped than McCain simply because he is less experienced overall than anyone else in the race.