Gerryf in at Donklephant:

…Her inexperience doesn?t bother me if she has some substance, which wasn?t terribly in evident, but I don?t care if she has only been governor for 2 years ? she has to have something going for her to be elected g…

Actually Avinash’s original point is meaningless, as NONE of the candidates has any experience being President.

Experience is important for a President, not so much for a VP. So at least the McCain/Palin is right side up – not obviously the same for the Obama/Biden ticket.

By the way, can anyone tell me what a “community organizer” actually does, ie..what services or goods are provided? Not a rhetorical question, actually don’t know.

Making a point of her “inexperience” is a major trap for Democrats, as it highlights that Obama has little relevant experience, even if he do talk purty and know how to promise everything to everyone (except the rich, whom we will eat).

Both Biden and McCain can rightfully claim to have enough time in the Senate to have a good grasp on top-level functioning. But only one is on the top of the ticket.

Think of the 10 worst presidents in history–I’ll even ignore W. –and take a look at their resumes. Buchanen. Loads of Experience. Harding. 20+ years. Hoover, while not holding elected office, was extremely well thought of and served as a cabinet member for 8 years. Franklin Pierce spent 24 years in politics before helping start the civil war with his incompetence.

Four of the biggest boneheads in US History.

A big reason we are talking about experience is because the GOP made experience a–no THE–reason to attack Obama. That is why I think McCain’s pick is dumb without even looking at Palin–he castrated himself of one of his two key attack points. And it was an attack that was sticking.

The race for the presidency is about more than just experience–shoot, the most significant reference to experience in the last 50 years was a joke—Reagan telling a debate audience that he would not hold Walter Mondale’s inexperience against him.

That was hilarious even before McCain stole it (ironically, he plagerizes Reagan and the GOP has criticized both Obama and Biden for past plagerizing….oh well).

The race for the White House has always been about ideas and charisma (and how successful you can smear the other guy), so the entire GOP argument about experience is a bit of a red herring–a red herring the Democrats are now employing.

Success in the white house is also about WHO you surround yourself with–look at the difference between Reagan’s first and second term…agreee or disagree with his politics, there is no debating he was an incredibly efficient/successful president in his first term, but not so much in his second after many key advisers/staff members left.

I’m not talking about perimeter people like William Ayers or John Hagge–only the fringe left and fringe right take this nonsense seriously. I’m talking about key advisers. One of my chief reasons for swinging to Obama from undecided are people like Josh Green, Wayne Berman and Phil Gramm, arguably the biggest crook since Dick Cheney.

Dumping Gramm–who almost single handedly helped usher in the mortgage crisis and the oil speculation boom with legislation he pushed in the remaining months of his political career before jumping ship to a lobbying firm whose clients included banks that wanted the legislation–would actually make me reconsider McCain.

But I am wandering off point.

Just because the “experience” issue is overblown, does not mean that the question of “is so and so ready to step in and be president?” is. Experience counts, but not just in ways a lot of people are measuring it.

My reservations about Obama–and I had a lot of them–have been alleviated by his masterful campaign. A virtual unknown, he beat the Clinton Machine. He’s raised money like no one else. He has managed a huge campaign with staffers on the ground in 50 states and accounted for himself well.

Even if you are a republican, you have to admit that is pretty impressive. He’s got the stuff.

Put in the same position, could Palin have done the same? I don’t know. I’m willing to see how she acquits herself in the next few months. What I have seen so far hasn’t impressed me, but she wasn’t trying to convince me at her coming-out party. Who knows, she may sit down with Biden and wipe the floor with him in a debate.

I am already worried the Democrats are falling into the same trap the GOP did with this–counting days in office without measuring the person. Underestimating an opponent based on first impressions is perilous.

A lot of people dismissed Reagan; a lot of people dismissed George W.

The Dems need to take this woman seriously.

She also has more “executive experience” than John McCain. Maybe McCain made the pick to bolster his lack of executive experience.

This is an excellent point that is being ignored in the media. All Dems are saying she is “one heartbeat away” – Obama is even closer.

Is it her fault that she lived in a town with 9,000 people? She still managed the town. To me, that is at par with a state senate position. Not to mention that she was Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and Governor of a distant, but extremely important state for two years. Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate in 11/2004 and announced his candidacy for President in 2/2007 – effectively giving him two years “top-level” experience, none of which were at the executive level.

No doubt that Biden was the best choice for Obama but to me, that is his admission of a lack of experience. I find it ironic that the Dems are criticizing McCain by saying this is strictly a tactical move to try to capture HRC supporters while their own Presidential candidate is the biggest tactical move in campaign history. Would Obama have ever gotten this far if he was not African-American? Talk about tactical.

I feel like people really think McCain will pull a Harrison and die four months into his term.

Capt,
So what should we start having the VP nominated again? It’s the candidates choice and it’s not like you were voting for McCain anyways, but if you were well I guess he lost your vote. I really don’t think there are that many in that case since most conservatives are pretty happy with the choice. McCain probably hurt his chances a little with indies but no of his choices would have helped.

I’d still rather have an inexperienced Gov as my #2 than inexperienced Sen has my #1.

If her parts dangled, do you think she still would have been picked? – Cap

If he was white with his level of experience, do you think he still would have been nominated by the Democrats?

Is either question relevant?

I don’t.

Bill Clinton only had executive experience at the state level before becoming President.

Ronald Reagan only had executive experience at the state level before becoming president.

Jimmy Carter only had executive experience at the state level before becoming president.

George W Bush only had experience at the state level before becoming president.

Ok, the last example is not so good. But the point is – that is the norm. What is abnormal, is a Senator to become President, and wildly abnormal for one with only three years in the Senate and no executive experience to become President.

As a dem I am very happy with his pick, as an american citizen he scared me today with this pick, and how it shows how little he actually cares about the country, he’s putting McCain first with Palin.

Sarah Palin will now go through the same process. Her resume is not appreciably better or worse than Obama’s. But she will now have to pass muster under an intense media glare in a campaign pressure cooker over the next three months. Then voters will decide if she is qualified to be VP with a resume no better that Obama’s. I don’t know how she’ll do. I hope she does well. We’ll see.

a VP pick that was completely unserious

This coming from people that nominated Barrack Obama……hilarious, sad, sexist – a trifecta of ignorance. The fact Justin doesn’t understand or think it is a good pick is enough to tell me that Palin is perfect.

As inexperienced as she is — She STILL has more executive experience than Obama. The fact that she is right on the issues and not a vacuous self-impressed airbag also helps.

…but will people really think this woman could be the leader of the free world?

It seems to me that Barack Obama has truly benefited from his celebrity status because his image has saturated the airwaves for over a year now, so it feels like this guy has been around forever. Everybody just met Palin for the first time today. We forget so quickly that Obama had just over 140 days in Washington before he declared himself ready to be the leader the free world.

If you are a voter who’s major concern is experience (taking political ideology out of it), and you have to choose between the two, honestly, which ticket makes more sense? The one with the experience at the top of the ticket or the one with it at the bottom?