Saturday, August 23, 2008

About experience

Once and for all, Barack Obama should strongly attempt to shut down all this nonsense about his relative lack of experience to run the country.

How and why? Because, unless I'm mistaken, John McCain has no experience as president either. The job is so unique that nothing else is a real approximate. Thus, the only way you can earn the experience necessary to be president is by actually being president.

Being a senator for four years or 40 years doesn't prepare you to run the executive branch anymore than being a governor or a congressman or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Was George W. Bush ready to be president in 2000? Is he even ready today? Why did we never hear similar concerns during Dubya's first run for the White House?

This is a lame and flawed complaint that Obama and his camp have somehow allowed to gain traction. At some point, Obama is going to have to turn to McCain and say, "you've never been president either. You've never been charged with running the country, just like me. This is about whom voters feel would best be suited to represent our country through their political ideals, their values and our relative qualifications. Let's stop with the silliness, ok?"

And, honestly, I get the feeling Obama would never be experienced enough for some people. Let's agree or disagree over the issues that matter to the future of the country. But let's not play this dishonest game about who has the most experience. It's a game where, truly, there are no winners.

No comments: