The EXPERIENCE Mythbuster: Let's Set The Record Straight. Clinton has LESS Experience than Obama

berni_mccoy

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Mon Feb-18-08 09:09 AM
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The EXPERIENCE Mythbuster: Let's Set The Record Straight. Clinton has LESS Experience than Obama

Edited on Mon Feb-18-08 09:31 AM by berni_mccoy

Hillary was first elected to the Senate in the year 2000. This was her first ELECTED position. Oh, you say she was the First Lady during Bill Clinton's Presidency, but I hear again and again and again that she isn't running on Bill's record. Ok, I'll give you that. And I'll even give you the year she spent working on her Healthcare plan, which she was unable to get past a Democratically controlled Congress. Her problem was inexperience, but also a failure of leadership. She did not demonstrate the problem effectively, she did not bring all parties to the table. She tried to ramrod this thing down the throat of Congress and the Republicans took this rare opportunity to thoroughly, absolutely destroyed her and the Democrats in Congress for it. We lost the Senate and the House because of it. After that, she returned in quiet humiliation to her first-lady duties. So I'll give her a year of experience for that. She learned a less that was painful, not just for her, but for the Democratic party. We all paid the price.

Now, add that year to her 8 years as a Senator, which she gained from a fairly easy campaign<1> with little-to-no opposition, and she's got 9 years of Experience as an elected politician. And what has she accomplished? There are some things she has done, but really, her work as well as many of her fellow Democrats was limited due to the strict, lock-step control of the Republicans. And since anything I say about her Senate career will be called biased by the Clinton supporters, I just point you to it. It isn't that spectacular. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_career_of_Hillary_Rodham_Clinton.

So, Clinton, 8 years of experience as an elected politician, with 1 bonus year for a total of 9 years.

Now, let's look at Obama. He was elected to the Illinois State Legislature in 1996 and re-elected twice after that. He understands what it is like to run a successful campaign. Unlike Clinton, he also knows what it is like to lose one as he lost his bid for the U.S. House in 2000 against 4-term incumbent Bobby Rush. But he continued his work as a state Senator and he earned the respect of both Republican and Democratic representatives. He was able to pass powerful and controversial legislation that would open transparency in government and law enforcement. While at first, it was resisted, he was able to show the leadership to pass it and then, after it was implemented, was awarded for it by both law enforcement and legislative members alike. Perhaps this is why he was asked to give the keynote at the 2004 DNC and was successful in his 2004 run for the U.S. Senate. You can read more about his EXPERIENCE here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

LEADERSHIP. VISIONARY. Inspiring to those around him. Add these qualities to his 8 years as a state legislature and 4 years as a U.S. Senator, and you've got 12 successful, inspiring years as a great politician.

Obama brings not only new energy, enthusiasm and HOPE to the voters of this country, he also brings 12 years of SUCCESSFUL experience as an elected politician and great visionary for this country.

Clinton's 9 years of experience to Obama's 12 years. I think this myth of Clinton having more experience is officially busted.

<1> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_New_York%2C_2000