The Experience Primary

This interesting snapshot of voters' hopes and fears and immediate impressions of Barack Obama comes from The Washington Post's campaign blog The Trail:
The Post explains that the cloud:

includes the top thirty-nine words mentioned, each of which was cited by 8 or more people. The size of each word represents the number of people who said it. So in this instance, the biggest word, "inexperienced," represents 123 people, the next largest, "young," represents 83, etc.

No wonder Bill Clinton decided to hammer Obama on the experience issue. As Marc Ambinder relates:          

In a hard-changing interview with Charlie Rose tonight, Bill Clinton said Americans who are prepared to choose someone with less experience, are prepared to "roll the dice" about the future of America. "It's less predictable, isn't it? When is the last time we elected a president based on one year of service before he's running?"

"What do you want to do -- whether you think it matters that, I mean, in theory, no experience matters," Clinton said. "In theory, we could find someone who is a gifted television commentators and let them run. They'd have only one year less experience in national politics..."

Of course, the idea that someone is qualified to be President based on their having been married to a President is perhaps even more absurd than presuming that being the son of a President is proper preparation for becoming President oneself. So, in this respect at least, it's not clear to me that Hillary can actually win any "experience primary". What has she actually ever done? (Apart from making a monumental hash of health care reform. But that's a good thing, apparently! She's learned stuff from that experience, you see...)

Comments

[Obama is neither honest nor skillful where it counts]

Obama is not honest. He was against the Iraq War when he didn't have a vote yet to cast. These are the senators who actually voted against the war:

* Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
* Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico)
* Barbara Boxer (D-California)
* Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)
* Lincoln Chaffee (R-Rhode Island)
* Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota)
* Jon Corzine (D-New Jersey)
* Mark Dayton (D-Minnesota)
* Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
* Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin)
* Bob Graham (D-Florida)
* Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)
* Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont)
* Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts)
* Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)
* Carl Levin (D-Michigan)
* Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland)
* Patty Murray (D-Washington)
* Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island)
* Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland)
* Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan)
* The late Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota)
* Ron Wyden (D-Oregon)

When he did have a vote, he insisted on the war's ROI, which is tacit approval for its status quo and the best indication of Obama's business judgment. He did this even while his state's co-senator, Dick Durbin, literally wept on the senate floor - don't do this act! Ultimately, Obama is willing to operate from a weaker America - that is his true voting record. Shifting gears: Obama's cocaine and foreign policy experience come from the same age in his life - his necessarily nostalgia for the latter is not disimilar to his watery statements about the former. Finally, Obama's votes are weak on crime, the sick ones: sexual predator, cop killer, drug dealers. He was the sole dissenting vote in a law that would have prevented time off for sex offenders for good behavior in jail. Obama is a strange and hurtful bird, indeed.

[dearieme]

Cattle Futures - she's experienced in Cattle Futures. It's a start.