uhmump95 Wrote:

TomorrowHerd Wrote:Has obama ever been responsible for anything in his life other than his family and his ego?

Let's leave family out of this. Because your VP obviously has not been fulfilling her responsibilities with her own family. I am trying to have a real debate and you are taking cheap shots.

TomorrowHerd Wrote:I will take a few years of mayors experience and governor experience over a guy who voted "present" 200 times or so.

Both would be satisfactory if they were over a significant populace. Being the mayor of a small town and a 2 year governor of a small state still seem kind of weak.

About Obama voting "present", is that the most by a senator during his term in Congress?

I think he was leaving the family out of it. The question was about everything else. I think it's a valid question on that basis.

My take on the experience issue is that Palin is light on experience to be VP and Barack is light on experience to be president. Obviously, we're going to put someone light on experience into one slot or the other. Would you rather it be the top or bottom of the ticket? And I can see arguments both ways on that. It's silly for republicans to pretend that Palin has all the requisite experience and Barack does not, just as it's silly for democrats to pretend that Barack has all the requisite experience and Palin does not. There's going to be some serious OJT for either one, and both sides would be better off to just admit it and move on. Who really thinks that we're going to change the way business is done in Washington (and it needs changing) without bringing in people who are short of Washingon experience?

In the end, I think the character of the individual is a lot more important than experience. I do think experience as a governor, even of a small state, is more relevant than experience as a senator or congressman. I would have said that if you asked me a month ago, or six months ago, or six years ago. The American people seem to feel that way as a whole, since we've put a lot more governors than senators into the white house in recent memory. I would feel the same way on that issue if governor Richardson (from a relatively small state) were the democrat VP candidate and senator Hutchinson (from the second-largest) were the republican VP candidate. Richardson may be a bad example, as he clearly has a lot of other relevant experience, but he was the only one I could think of on short notice, and I'd feel the same way even if he didn't have the Clinton administration experience.

I actually think the "present" votes were in Illinois. I don't think that same procedure is available in the Senate, or if it is I don't think it has the same implications. I believe I've read that it indeed is the most, by a wide margin, during his time in the Illinois legislature.