The Experience Debate

I find it quite silly that some democrats feel that because John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate that somehow the experience issue is off the table.

It’s not, here’s why.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Palin isn’t running for president. Barack Obama is. The notion that Palin should be able to step into the presidency on “day one” is ridiculous, because she won’t have to, it’s never happened. Never in the history of the United States has a vice president stepped into the presidency on “day one.” William Henry Harrison died of a cold after a month in office, but even then his vice president, John Tyler, had at least a month to look over Harrison’s shoulder.

The fact is the democrats are arguing that Palin doesn’t have the experience to be president, which makes sense because she’s running as vice president. However, if the democrats claim Palin isn’t experienced enough, they certainly can’t believe that Obama has the experience to be president. As a matter of fact, Palin has more experience than Obama.

Let’s just take a look at the records.

Palin was elected to the Wasilla city council in 1992, a full five years before Obama was elected to his first political office. At this time Obama was registering voters in Chicago. She served two terms on city council before running for mayor.

She was elected the mayor of Wasilla in 1996, right about the time Obama won his first election for political office. So by this time Palin had won three elections, Obama had won one.

Palin was reelected as mayor in 1999, winning by an even larger margin than her first run. During her second term she was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.

She ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2002 but lost in the primary. The governor of Alaska, Frank Murkowski, appointed Palin as the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner. She served as commissioner for a year (2003-2004) eventually resigning because of what she called a “lack of ethics” of republican members. Keep in mind Palin is a republican. She stood up to the party that had groomed her for office.

She took on the Republican Party chairman, Gov. Frank Murkowski’s attorney general, Murkowski’s daughter, Sen. Ted Stevens’ son, the North Slope oil producers and finally Murkowski himself.

Link

She exposed corruption in the heavy hitters of the Alaskan republican party. Contrast that with Barack Obama, who kneeled down to the political machine in Chicago. He made friends with a former domestic terrorist, a slum landlord, and a nuts pastor, all in the sake of political advancement. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Palin was challenging her own party, including the party chairman and the son of a long serving senator.

Palin is what Obama pretends to be. A bipartisan reformer who stands up to the “politics of the past.”

So Palin, frustrated by the corruption in the Alaska GOP, runs for governor. She defeats the incumbent in the primary. And defeats a former governor, Tony Knowles, in the general election by 7%. She gets into office and what does she do, posts the former governor’s jet on ebay.

Let’s tally up the experience points.

Elections won for political office
Palin: 5
Obama: 3

Number of incumbents defeated
Palin: 2
Obama: 0

Years in political office
Palin: 16
Obama: 12

Years of executive experience
Palin: 12
Obama: 0

Palin has won more elections for public office, has been in public office four more years, and has twelve more years of political experience. So who’s more ready to be president on day one? Even if it was Obama vs. Palin for the presidency, it’d still be Palin.

I think it’s also important to analyze how Palin and Obama’s political careers advanced. Palin began on the PTA, then city council, then mayor, then she ran for Lieutenant governor, then she was appointed to a position by the governor, and then ran for governor. Her ascent up the political ladder was gradual and made sense. As a matter of fact she didn’t go straight from mayor to governor, she went for lieutenant governor first. Showing she wasn’t striving for political power.

Obama’s ascent is completely different. He started as a state senator, then U.S. senator, then president. His time frame is off too. He was a state senator for eight years, then a U.S. senator for 140 working days. Now he’s running for president.

Palin’s time frame makes sense. She was on city council for two years, mayor for eight years, governor for two years. And now she was selected to be vice president, she didn’t get power hungry and just grab for the presidency.

Another thing to remember, Palin is exactly what Obama wants. He hammers McCain for being in Washington for 26 years, I don’t know if Obama has examined Palin’s biography, but she’s been 4,000 miles away from Washington her entire political career.

So if the democrats want to play the experience game, let em’. It’s clear that Palin is more experienced than Obama, and she’s the number two on the republican ticket.

–jb

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