Jack,

I think good judgement, diplomacy and the ability to speak to people and bring them together trumps any type of “experience” that McCain or Hillary can boast. After all……most of their experience is the experience of taking hand outs from lobbyists.

Some of the presidents we have elected have had experience being president. That is, arguably, the only experience that counts. But then again there is bush (no capital, dammit).

jack, apparently not much, voters are choosing, unity over division and good judgement is now as important as any washington experience!

A candidate’s “experience” gives us a chance to check out our candidates. We have just spent seven years with a young president who has misused and abused power. Maybe if we had required more experience, we wouldn’t be regretting the choice now.

IF EXPERINCE WAS SUCH GOOD THING WASHINGTON WOULD NOT BE IN MESS IT IS NOW!

Experience does not matter. Look at Bush. He has none and Cheney is really the Prez and dictates to Bush and what to do.

Cheyney and Rumsfeld had lots of experience.

It’s the quality and attitude of the president and that of the people who surround him that count.

Obama has both the quality and attitude that is needed in the next President of the U.S.A.

Jack, I believe only a Vice President or former VP can truly claim experience; Al Gore anyone???

honesty far over powers experience. look what 7+ years of experience got us. decisions at the presidential level requires relying on the quality staff you surround yourself with.

I don’t give a hoot about experience, because the records of these candidates are all painted in grey and cherry picked before being spoonfed to us anyway.
What I want to know is what they planning to do when they get to the Whitehouse.
Will any of them seek criminal charges against Dick Cheney, George Bush, and Haliberton for the tons and tons of $100 dollar bills sent to Iraq, that are now lost and unaccounted for?
Keep up the good work!
John Kish
Columbia, MO

If you keep pushing Obama, your going to find out and it will be bad for everyone!

Experience does not matter much. To be an effective leader a president must surround himself with smart people who really care about the future of the country. The president must also know how to inspire and excite people. Obama inspires and I have faith he will surround himself, unlike the current president, with quality people.

Let’s see…..Bill Cinton didn’t have a ton of experience but he got elected in ‘92. If I remember correctly, Clinton made a comment during the DNC that experience is overrated, especially if those with all the experience are doing the same things. Clinton called this type of thinking “insane”.

Also, current president George Bush didn’t have a lot of experience but he chea–, uh, got elected. Nevermind….that was a bad example.

Experience is certainly helpful, but it’s meaningless if your principles aren’t consistent.

There’s Obama’s good experience and judgment then there’s Hillary’s bad experience and corruption.

Obama shows dignity, the ability to bring parties and people together to GET SOME WORK ACCOMPLISHED IN CONGRESS and can bring respect from foreign leaders.

Obama has charisma and character…Hillary needs some Prozac

I don’t see any candidate who has the experience to be president, because none of them has been president before. It is impossible to have a president who has experience in all the issues facing the nation. That is why a president needs a great vision about what he or she wants to do, and then surrounds himself or herself with people who have expertise. I want somebody to tell me what experience Bill Clinton or Bush 43 had on foreign policy before taking office. I don’t mean, though, to compare by any means their records in that issue.

Jack
If you dont have the experience necessary, then you had better surround yourself with people that do or you will be in deep —— !

To get elected, no experience, nor any track record of success at anything at all is required. Just ask Dubya.

Apparently, a lot of bozos out there are falling for the feel good rhetoric of Barack. Kinda reminds me of the way voters decided on GWB. He was the kind of guy you could have a beer with, as I recall. Duh…… Look where that got us!

Hopefully, good sense will prevail this time, and the level headed person with experience, Hillary Clinton, will win. Barack reminds me of an overeager stallion bristling to change things with neither the experience nor the common sense necessary to achieve his goals. Does he have any goals, I wonder?

When listening to the 2 of them the difference is like night and day. One is full of catch phrases designed to rouse the masses, while the other one is full of knowledge and facts, and knows change will not come easily, and can only occur with work.

Mary from Florida

Dear Jack,

Intellegence trumps experience. The history books are full of inexperienced but intellegent leaders who have ruled quite effectively, but I don’t know of any idiots who have governed well, regardless of their experience level. Witness the devastation heaped upon this country in the last seven years to see what the lack of both can produce.

Dan NYC

Jack,
Experience has always been one of the driving forces behind a campaign. I suspect it’s that way because people in power are unwilling to give up that power and fear of the inexperienced keeps them there. Unfortunetly for them American’s have caught on to this B.S. Yes, in most cases experience is a good thing. But when experience is the very thing tearing this country apart, we must put our faith in the untainted and inexperienced to set this country back on track. I can only hope that the time comes again when experience in government is judged as a good thing and not the thorn that sticks in our countries side.

Successful Experience is far better than no experience. We can’t afford to experiment with our Country right now (Or ever). As I recall, it was the Reagan/Bush Sr. era that brought us a stifling defict well over a trillion dollars back in the late 80’s & early 90’s (some of you Obama supporters may not remeber this since most of you are about 18 yrs old) - CLINTON Turned it around and we were operating in surplus again for the first time in ages. Then came “W”, you know the rest. America needs someone with the knowhow like Hillary Clinton.

When it comes to being president, how much does experience really matter?

No president has ever had experience being president. Each has had relevant experience, just as each of today’s candidates has. The truly important experience is having been an effective leader who has exercised maturity and solid judgment. Again, all three candidates possess this experience. The election will be decided on the basis of trust - who can we trust to lead us during a time when the people of the U.S. and the world need healing and leadership they can respect?

John in San Diego

Jack: It matters less if you have the good sense to surround yourself with the right people. There are lots of different ways to aquire experience.

Well, perhaps we should all ask ourselves, in whatever positions we now find ourselves, does our experience matter? Should CNN go out and find a new college graduate to replace you Jack? Do you think your years of experience bring anything to the table? (Although I don’t always agree with you, I would argue that your experience has value.)

For those of you that lived through corporate layoffs, downsizing, restructuring or right sizing — did you find that some value was lost when higher paid experienced employees were replaced with new lower paid workers? In all fairness, a little of deadwood was let go, but so was a great deal of experience and long term knowledge that can only be gained by working through various economic cycles and trends.

Trafalgar, IN

Just take a walk down memory lane with the Bush Administration. OJT ring a bell? If there is no requirement for experience, we’re all going to revisit memory lane seven years from now.

Being truthful is more important than experience. What a person says should not be at variance with their actions. If experience was so important, then how do you account for the current state of affairs in this country?

Experience means nothing if the people you are trying to lead just don’t like you and they are divided, and against your ideas.

jack if you keep pushing obama, you will get a president who knows what he is doing, competent, who doesnt wish other foreign leaders we dont agree with the u.s.a to die, like mccain said on the weekend about castro,i like the effective way he has run his campaign, thats the type of skill we need to run the white house in 2009!

I’d rather have someone sitting in the White House with only a modicum of experience as long as they have a clear vision of where America needs to be and the capacity to lead us there. I don’t want someone with twenty-five years experience who wants to lead us down the same path that got America into the mess we’re in.

Experience is important but VISION and good Judgment is more important. We have had experience the past 10 years and look where that has gotten us! I think Barack has a positive vision and a good attitude towards the responsiblities he will be burdened with.
Mc Cain has experience but his temperament scares me, Hillary is acting too unstable and schitzophrenic. So far only Obama seems to be stable even headed calm cool and collected and that is what we need in moments of crisis.

I will answer like this, “Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. Experience is a great advantage, however, the problem is when you get the experience you are too dam old to do anything about it.

Experience and longevity don’t always equal success. For example there are a lot of companies that have been around longer than Google and have more business experience than the founders of Google, but Google is the one that’s leading.

Jack, did you see Saturday Night Live? They have your number. Showed your unwillingness to give Hillary fair and unbiased coverage! Why do you guys push an inexperienced Obama! He has no specifics at all. Wishing is not leading. CNN has not reported the news, it’s making the news up! Obama has nothing! Hillary Clinton is the only hope for change in the United States!

We had a president with very little experience in IKE & he turned out ok, same with Bill Clinton. We have a president with very little experience in the current idiot & look what he’s managed to accomplish: a stupid war, squandering a 5.5 trillion budget surplus, wiped out a balanced budget, partially destroyed the the Constitution, turned his back on science, probably committed high crimes & misdemeanors and has lowered our reputation with the rest of the world.

I will probably go for less experience & more optimism.

Experience is very important,as long as the experience is in something outside of being a lifetime politician. A president should be someone who has managed a company and people and has a track record of actually having accomplished something besides taking political cash hand-outs. Any company hiring any executive will conduct an extensive interview and background check to make sure the person that they are going to hire is qualified and telling the truth. We should expect no less of a president.

George Washington didn’t have any experience in running a government, nor the next several Presidents after him, but they had a vision of what this country should be, common sense, and a great love for this country. That’s why we are here today. Unfortunately this current President had blurred vision, no experience, common sense or any love for this country or he wouldn’t have done what he has done to it in the past seven years.

Jack,
Come on… Experience! you can have all the experience in the world but if your judgement is as bad and bias as Hillary’s then I rather have some one with better judgement!!!

What do we have now in the White House. Bush–no previous experience. I think he has lead to the dumbing down of the presidency. Let us not vote another Bush into the White House. Obama has only been a first term one-two year Senator. When he was in the Illinois Senate he played the game by pushing the wrong button 6 times when voting and then also voted present 130 times. Hey, this was his job. He admitts to being disorganized, he struts his youth but then has Ted Kennedy campaign for him. This is sure a dichotomy in character.

Lyndon Johnson had a lot of experience and got us into Vietnam. President Bush had no experience and got us into Iraq. Is there a third choice?

Ed Reed
Port Aransas, TX

If experience were such a good thing, we would change the rules and let Bush run again, and none of us are willing to do that. Experience is not always what it is cracked up to be. I would go more for plain old common sense, if there is such a thing.

Jack,
Having experience really does matter, I have three words for you President George Bush…

C.I., New York

Sadly, experience hasn’t amounted to a hill of beans in the Dem primaries this year. Biden, Dodd and Richardson all have more experience than the rest put together, and were quickly shoved aside in favor of the one (Obama) with by far the least. Edwards, Clinton, Gravel and Kucinich also have much to offer from their years of service, but they too were rejected, and now Obama, who actually has less experience than George Bush, will go on to lose handily to McCain. Whatever - we must follow the republican media’s plan for us, after all. We never learn.

Eperience only matters when it’s accompanied by “common sense” and ethics, Jack.

Take a look at the last 4 years - NOBODY had more experience than W, huh?

EXPERIENCE is a cute term that’s often overated.

I can have experience running a large company. That doesn’t mean squat if I drove that company into bankruptcy.

When you think of epxperience, think of W… ughhhhh

Jack; When our Founding Fathers set the criteria for president, experience wasn’t wasn’t one of them. I think they did this knowing that it was important to keep ideas fresh and to keep complacency and status quo in check. Experience hasn’t seemed to have taught John McCain that 4 more years of Bush policies will absolutely ruin this nation. Experience hasn’t seemed to have taught Hillary Clinton that negativity isn’t what the people of this country want. So Jack, does experience really matter when it comes to being president? Yes, if you want the same old same old! No, if you want6 things to change!

Jim Sluder, College Station, TX

Experience looks good on a resume, but you have to nail the interview to land the job.

Experience does not matter if you are applying for a job as a sales clerk, or on second thoughts, it might.
So dont you think, that applying for the job of the Highest Office in the U.S matters! If credentials dont matter, then I’ll run. I’ve never held a job in any public capacity, and dont have a degree yet either, but that shouldn’t matter according to your theory that experience doesn’t matter.

Denver, Colorado

Bush has thrown our America into turbulent times, turbulent waters. If you’re drowning in turbulent waters, who do you want to jump in and save you? Someone who’s been an experienced, competent swimmer in turbulent waters for years, or someone who’s barely dipped their toes in water and still is practicing their swimming strokes on land? So yes, experience does matter–especially as President! The best President is one who has both the experience and the great plans– with the passion, fight, and authority to make those great plans happen. We have that President in Hillary Clinton. Rose in PA

Not at all
If you’re trying to fix a broken government with the experience of a 1966
society , you can’t repair the new 2008 model. We need new idea’s for a new age !

Abraham Lincoln began as a lawyer, served several years in the Illinois General Assembly, then two years in the US Congress. Sound familiar?

Jamie,
Rochester, NY

Understand we had 4 yrs of Bush, 8 yrs Clinton and 8 yrs of Bush and we are trillions in debt, people are losing their homes, jobs and health care is unaffordable; if this what experience get you then I prefer someone without any.

If her position on Nafta, her past Health bill and plan, under her Husband’s administration ,and being the wife of Bill Clinton are experience ;than we do not need it. Her only experience truely is being in the Senate and it has not been too many years. She seems to tout her whole life since graduating from law school as “experience “and I beg to differ. We need to get away from the staleness that she has become in Washington.
Carol Quinley
Michigan

Jack - Abilities matter. The ability to work in a bi-partisan way (since we seem to be stuck with two parties). the ability to unite this country, the ability to improve our tarnished world image and the ability to find good experienced people to serve in the president’s cabinet. I am voting for Barack Obama because I believe he has those abilities.

Bush had NO experience, no track record, no sense of history and what a mess we are in. Good common sense would be very helpful, because GWB has none.

experience works both ways. with obama, it’s a lack of experience that hurts him. with mccain, it’s too much experience which is what keeps washington in the same old politics as usual mode. hillary for now, obama next and mccain retire is the best scenario. too much change to fast can be as damaging as no change and a continuance of failed policies. obama will be good someday, mccain will never change and’y offers hope.

If we elect our President, and there is no background to check, we will end up in the same shape that the banks are in. They made all of these home loans under the assuption that no credit history is better than a bad credit history. Everyone involved got burned. If you have candidates with a long history then at least you have something to base your vote on. I don`t want somebody telling me how to raise my kids if they do not have any children of their own. This is a big deal and I think we better be very careful. we better go in with our eyes open and not jump on any bandwagons without thinking.

Leadership and Judgement are far more important. All presidents assemble a team of experts in different areas (Foreign policy, Economy, etc.) to support them. Bush failed because of his inability to lead and practice sound judgement not because of experience.

Orlando FL.

Experience matters but just not by itself! You must have leadership, great listenting skills and show some compassion for humanity.

This is a tough one? Let’s see ,we’ve got Serbia partnering up with Putin&USSR against Kosovo , possible powderkeg. Next on the short list, we’ve got Pakistan with their internal problems,ie)possible civil war, with loose “nukes”,and their Army’s General, that’s not in total control? Lest we forget, “The Hundred Year War” with Iraq, and good neighbor,”State(Farm)Iran, ready at the call to help their fallen brethren? Where’s the troops and money to fight the war? Finally, with the immigration/drugs issue’s coming across the border/ports not being enforced,and China,s favorite dumping ground becoming even more excessable,with a dash of $100+/bbrl.oil and a sprinkle of a recession,who needs,”Experience”??? Earl from Provincetown,Mass.

Listen they both have experience. The question is do you as a supporter look to see what that experience is. I feel a lot of Obama supporters dont… that doesnt say anything about the candidate but it does speak volumes about the supporters. Reminds me of Bush 2000 supporters.

The “experienced” cast of characters in the Bush Administration has tgotten us into our current mess. I seem to recall that experience wasn’t an issue in 1992 when Bill Clinton was elected.

I’m not interested in the “experience” Old Man River McCain has to offer. He’s just a mouthpiece for Bush and Cheney. A fresh face (Obama) is what the country and the world seem to want, and I’m with them. It’s time we regain our stature in the world, instead of having a Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

Thousand Oaks, Ca

when the experience in question is the scandalous past that follows Hillary Clinton everywhere then no experience does not matter. If experience is going to keep us getting more of the same from our government then experience doesn’t matter. If experience we are talking abou a woman who seems on the edge of a bipolar disorder then no experience does not matter.

OBAMA 08

It’s about the right kind of experience, Jack. After 35 years of experience Hillary seems find her voice every week. Ironically enough, it’s about substance. Saying you have 35 years of experience and act like a child fighting over the last cup of milk is not the experience America needs.

Who’s experience?
your own or your husband’s?

Jack, I think that ability to inspire and honesty and integrity will trump experience any time!JFK didn’t have a lot of experience but he could inspire the nation eace Corps,Man on the Moon! People are looking for a candidate they can trust with integrity and that person is Barack Obama!
Go Obama!

Jack,

Having some political experience absolutely matters. But 30 years versus 20 years isn’t the kind of difference in experience that matters.

If you want someone with experience, look at Mike Huckabee. 10.5 lears as lieutenant Gov. or Governor…he has had to deal with everything, just on a smaller scale. Check out mikehuckabee.com.

George W. Bush had no prior Washington D.C. experience and it has been a trainwreck. John F. Kennedy was a one term young senator who set the bar high to reach the moon within a decade, got the ball rolling on civil rights, and showed knowledge far beyond what people would expect from someone with his “experience” level to stare down the enemy in the eye and make them blink.

Based on these two examples…experience means nothing.

If you ask any professor of American history, they will tell you that there is no correlation between a long resume and being a good president.

Abraham Lincoln served only two years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He’s is usually called America’s greatest leader in history.

George Bush Senior had a killer resume. He was vice-president, CIA director, UN ambassador, Republican Party chair, Congressman, and business owner. Even his own party thought he was an ineffective president.

Jack,

I read the Constitution back to back, forwards and backwards, and nowhere does it say that experience is a prerequisite to become president.

George W. Bush had no prior Washington D.C. experience and it has been a trainwreck. John F. Kennedy was a one term young senator who set the bar high to reach the moon within a decade, got the ball rolling on civil rights, and showed knowledge far beyond what people would expect from someone with his “experience� level to stare down the enemy in the eye and make them blink.

Based on these two examples…experience means nothing.

Brian
Springfield, IL

Jack, thanks for making that perfectly clear that NONE of them experience that mounts to much of anything. I have been saying that all the time. Granted they are worldly in their knowledge and life experiences but that is the sum of it. But is it really important, yes an no depending on who is doing the measuring. For me it is all about people skills, it is all about management skills, its all about being open minded to other ideas and perspectives… no single person has all the right answers. Most importantly it is all about surrounding your self with those that do have the experience in each particular area and that they also are open minded and can openly discuss the pro’s and con’s of the min, sec or day. The most important is having a president that can after asking the right questions, weighing all the options can make the decision that is in the best interest of the United States, even if that decision would hurt or maybe even destroy their political future. That to me is the person America deserves.

I agree all of them have little experience. Therefore, the questio is how great are their accomplishments within the realms of their experiences? Who did great things with little power?

I don’t think the kind of experience Hilary has to offer is anywhere near as important as Obama’s ability to bring people from all sides together.

Hillary’s experience, her flip flopping and temper will only keep us going the same way it has in the past.

After seeing the photo Clinton’s campaign released today, I think she is an Uncle Tom to the African American community and shouldn’t be trusted by anyone.

Jack,
How much “experience” did Bill Clinton have when he was elected in 1992? If you look throughout American history, many of our best presidents had little to no Washington experience. I believe the most important characteristic a candidate can possess is a willingness to serve the good of the American people. To this end, we need a president that will be able to work with people on all sides of the debate in order to build a unified consensus.

Jack,
I’m not going to lie experience matters, but what’s the point of experience if the candidate has poor judgement (on Iraq). It seems like Hillary has the same kind of experience as Bush and Rumsfeld did and look how that turned out.

Lexington,
Kentucky

Texas sent our Governor to the White House as the CEO president. It was expected that he would surround himself with talented and experienced folks and then “manage the team”. So much for that. Even though no candidate left has run a major corporation or state, at least Hillary and McCain have a huge amount of experience on their side and that counts. They can draw on that when needed…especially Hillary. She wasn’t “the president” but no doubt knows exactly what to expect. How could she not? Barack is light on experience just as George W. was. And Barack’s calls for change are laughable at best. Looking at his proposals, I see nothing but the status quo.

Hillary gets this Texan’s vote. And if Barack ends up the nominee, then McCain gets my general election vote. When will people see through Barack’s hype?

Jack, I don’t care where a candidate has been… being the leader of the free world is the ultimate OJT environment … even in one’s second term.

Hello Jack
People who talk about experience should also know that they had experience dealing with lobbyists in a past and that it is time to change. But when you have a campaign that is funded by lobbyists money. What can you do about change, I think the person that will bring about changes will come with fresh ideas that no one had thought of. What would happen to all of us if before getting any kind of job, you had to have experience in that specific field. I believe that people can be trained as long as you can surround yourself of people who know what they are talking about. This country should be the world example of democratie, man, i am starting to see it looking like countries in Africa when we had presidents who have been in power for over 35 years. We are ready for new names (Bush, Clinton), new ideas, new politic anti-corruption and a changed country. It is time to dust the carpet.

Nice picture of Osama, l mean Obama,in the News reports today .Says one thing then does another. Yes Mr Slick you can pull the wool over the young`ns. heads. Take him to task Hillary, this guy has had a free ride so far. TALK, about the black vote, 91% for Obama ? Whites are 50-50 in their votes ? Who seems to be racist now ???

The Clintons were the best black people ever had in the White House yet they can be discarded because of the color of someones skin ???

SHAME……..

How’d you get your job Jack?
Why would level of experience matter for everone else but the President?

Sad how many voting Americans have no idea of the accomplishments of either side. Maybe do yourself a favour and check out their websites, make a phone call, at least do something to educate yourself. Not the, because you heard it or didn’t hear it way that so many base what they believe on. I would have thought you a smarter Nation but , wow , now I really have to wonder.

Obama 08

I doubt that experience means much. After the first few months in office, people who have no experience in government or in politics will be telling us how the new president should be running the country.

I am old enough to remember the Cuban Missle Crisis. I remember the fear in my family and my elementary school teacher. Can you imagine if LBJ (the more experienced candidate in 1960)had been in the Oval Office and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had reccomended a tactical nuclear strike on Cuba? How about if Stephen Douglas (the more experienced candidate in 1860) had defeated Lincoln?

Face it, no one has the experience to be President. It is wisdom and intelligence that enables an individual to grow into that office. I am for Obama not because of lofty goals and outstanding rhetoric. I support Obama because he is smart and unburdened by the political infighting of the past 20 years.

The true question is what kind of experience does our next President need?

I don’t think any job or experience can guarantee success. I think what really matters is judgement, intellect and trustworthiness.

With the presidential race in mind, lets take a look at Google: the impetus and ideas came from folks without much experience, if any, in the business that they came to dominate. They did take care to surround themselves with intelligent, experienced advisors, and it’s pretty hard to argue with the results.

Hi Jack,

Experience does not matter. The president should be someone who’s judgement can be trusted, they’ll have access to as many experts as you could possibly want to ensure they understand the possibe implications of each decision. What matters is their ability to make sound decisions.

If experience in the White House was a big deal clearly we’d all be fools not to insist on a Cheney/Rumsfeld ticket in ‘08 as between the two of them they’d likely be the most experienced duo in the whitehouse alive. By the way, if that happens I’ll be moving to Canada.

Jack I can answer that in two words GEROGE BUSH.

Since none of the people running for President has ever held the office I don’t guess it really matters. No one in the race could mess it up any more then the great decider has, most elementary students could do as good a job as Bush, biggest joke of a President that I’ve saw in my 45 years of voting.

Judgement and the “vision thing” trump experience every time. As for running things, they are all three running a national campaign right now and I would say that Obama has run the best campaign by far. The other two have both experienced financial problems, staff changes, problems with their message, and have been unable to connect with voters to the same degree that Obama has. I think Obama has the right message and the right skill set to move the message from rhetoric to reality.

Of course it matters!!! Jack. This country is too divided and there a fine line between experience and change, you have to have both. The only problem is that none of the presidential candidates have both and we are still left in 50/50 stance.

Since Hillary is so experienced, what happened. Her campaign is in shambles. Economics: Why he her campaign broke, Judgement: poor choice of campaign managers, Planning: She was ready of day one of this campaign, what happened to day 2?

Obama is showing that he has a very thin skin. First it was both Clintons against him, then the photograph, the “Shame on you”. etc etc ec. He can talk a good game but in essence there is no basic difference between him and George Bush. They both do not know how to lose, have supporters who see past their faults to back them every step of the way and a media which will not ask either one of them the tough questions.
Experience is something the citizens of this country have seeing what happenned after 7 years of W in the White House and the question is are we matured enough to sift through demagogery and make the tough decisions? The system Obama ridicules is the one that will stand behind him if he gets elected.

I think that judgement matters and not experience. We hear Hillary state over and over again that is she is the one ready on day one. Give me a break! She voted for this stupid war! Hillary and McCain both need to go somewhere sit down and shut up! Their kind of thinking is what has caused the death to thousands of men and women who faught in this war. Families have been devastated from losing a wife, husband or children. Not to mention the amount of debt we have incurred and the state of our economy because if this. Obama is the one to right this wrong! Hillary and McCain can just drop off the face of the earth America will be better without their type of experience!!!

Yes, it does matter. Do we really want another 4 years of an inexperanced person in the white house. Hillary has traveld all over the worlk representing the US and as I recall was very well liked abroad.

We have had 200+ years of a man runing the white house I think it is time we put a woman in charge. After all we all lets give woman a chance.

Gail
NH

Two names Jack: George Bush, Jimmy Carter

Lincoln didn’t have any prior political experience besides a failed run for the Senate against Stephen Douglas. Yet, history doesn’t question his ability to lead the country. History doesn’t give two hoots about the president’s resume.

i am for Obama. He is right -we know the problems; we know the solutions; what we do not have is the politics. So as far as I am concerned the bigger the broom the better. And who is left over - let them meet until we have energy efficency- a national speed limit- higher gas mileage requirements; a real national agenda and policies linked to spending for sustainability; health care; a sane foriegn policy; and so forth- let them meet and get the people’s business done- back in the day they wrote the constitution in one year!

Clinton can’t even manage the finances and stray directors of her small-peanuts campaign, yet she is supposedly “ready on day one” to run the most powerful country in the world? A good leader cannot act alone, and must choose his or her army wisely. Only Obama, not Clinton nor McCain, has shown the ability to do that thus far.

Has anyone ever seen the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? I’m shocked that this particular film hasn’t come up in discussions about Barack Obama. All of these politicians are nothing but pawns and any thinking individual is aware of this. Obama is the best approximation an individual that is willing to obliterate party lines and move this country forward. If Clinton is elected, our last four administrations would be BUSH-CLINTON-BUSH-CLINTON. Democracy anyone?

Jack,

Excluding a few weeks as Vice President, none of the candidates really have any less experience than Harry Truman did. He turned out to be one of our greatest presidents ever. Time will tell, Jack. Time will tell.

If experience is what Hillary has to offer and no sense of judgment then I would rather take someone with sound judgment over useless experience. So far the kind of experience I have seen from Hillary is one that needs psychiatric help. I do not a president who thinks of themselves and is always crying or screaming. We need someone that is calm collective and has sound judgment on issues like Iraq, the economy, healthcare and is ready and right on day one.

Vic IN

It’s easy to talk about “experience,” but experience doing what? No candidate has any experience as President (Hillary claims it, but didn’t even have a security clearance), so what sort of experience counts? Running a company, constitutional law, legislative wrangling, conflict resolution - all of the candidates can claim one sort of experience or another.

More important are how the candidate can relate those experiences to leadership of our country, and how they rate in terms of vision, judgment, and ethics.

George W. Bush had “experience” running Texas, and he’s had seven plus years of “experiece” as President.

Do you think he’s ready???

Even I am more ready than former Governor Dubya.

Dave - the debt was created by first Bush and Reagan before him, fixed by Clinton and created again by Bush-43. Come on, people, you all prospered in 90s; somebody needs to fix the mess again. Obama was the most predictably liberal vote in Senate; he talks about “bipartisanship” but how he’s going to create one with such a record? Me, myself and Obama?

Experience doesn’t matter! What matters is a big dream and one who works to achieve it, uniter and one that cares about people, a person who is wise and educated and uses his/her wisdom for the benefit of the people; far sighted, vissionary and one who dissociated him/herself from special interest groups. That is watters for America!

Jack, what gage are people using to determine experince? Is it the current President’s experience and sound judgements? Is it a Republican candidate who still believes the war in Iraq was justified even with all the mis-information we were given? Or is it the Democratic candidate who can’t even manage their campaign and it’s finances. If these are the benchmarks Senator Obama is being measured against, I’m glad he does lack experience.

Of the three candidates, I know Senator Obama will be the best for the tasks at hand as President of the United States.

Jack. Of course experience matters, however who actually has experience as president of the U.S. except former presidents? The resume required for the highest office in the land requires an individual with leadership, presence of mind, sound judgement, charisma, compassion, strength of conviction, forward thinking and superior listening skills.

Jack,

This is a sad commentary on America. We elect personalities, not those who are the most qualified to do the job.

Also, for those of you who equate George W. Bush with Obama, as far as experience is concerned, let’s not forget that Dubya was the governor of Texas. All the collective experience in Washington hasn’t done us a whole lot of good.

It matters a lot! We can’t have somebody who doesn’t know what they’re doing running a country like this. That would be like giving a baby a gun. It’s not a safe and just down right STUPID.

Cleveland, Ohio
GO HILLARY

I believe experience does matter. Hillary Clinton with her vast experience in many aspects of improving the lives of Americans has the most experience. She would undoubtedly change American for the better. She would improve our relations around the world.

Why does a President need a cabinet if the main goal of the electorate is to find someone with loads of experience? There have been many successful Presidents that were short on experience. However, a strong leader always surrounds themself with the best and brightest people as advisors. The next President needs to have a strong cabinet, not just political hounds. That is what will make them successful, more so than just experience on day one.

Jack, I think what’s more important than how many years of experience you have, is what you have gained from them, how you can apply them to the needs of the country. I think Hillary’s and McCain’s experience isn’t as relevant now. They both have experience fighting and in fact both seem to thrive on the idea of battle. The USA doesn’t need any more fighting for the sake of fighting, which is what our “experienced” candidates will give us, and in fact already have!

It can help, but it really doesn’t matter much.

Some of the best presidents this country has had were never had executive political or business experience.

George W. Bush had executive experience as Governor of Texas and ran (failed) businesses, and look at the mess this country is in becuase of his “leadership”.

Real leadership comes from good judgement, great ideas and the ability to unite people behind those ideas.

I think that a solid track-record is extremely important in a candidate - but it has to be a record of sound judgment and effective executive decision-making, not just a record of successfully being-alive-in-an-elected-position for a long time.

The Democrats currently have a choice: a candidate who blew a massive advantage in popularity, name-recognition and campaign funding, or a candidate who has generated record voter turnout and record donor dollars. In direct head-to-head political competition, we’ve clearly seen who’s the more competent executive. *That* is experience you can believe in.

I think in this discussion that experience is being mistaken for good judgment. While good judgment may be based on experience, other factors such as intelligence, communications skills, and character contribute just as significantly. Experience alone is not a good benchmark. What if all that time you have been doing the wrong thing or failed to learn any new lessons? What good is experience then?

Okay - truly what kind of experience REALLY prepares you to be president?

I think good judgment and the ability to organize are key as well as knowing who to put in place where - because let’s face it no president runs the country alone - there are many people to guide and advice.

It seems to me it’s like setting up an upstart company - and based on what I can tell, thus far - Senator Clinton’s experience and judgment haven’t done her much good - in light of what a mess her campaign is on the other hand - Senator Obama - the upstart changed the business model a bit - and has run a much leaner and better campaign - with a lot less “experience”.

I’m guessing - it would be the same in how he would run the country.

Through my “experience” I learned that it isn’t always what you know but what you do with it.

Out of all three candidates, Obama seems to be the one who has done the least. He hasn’t been much of a fighter. He hasn’t really done much to take an issue and push it to completion. In fact he reminds of some people I have worked with who might have some good ideas, but really all they can do is talk about it.

The one question I have for today, is they keep saying how Obama refused a job on Wall Street…how can they see he would have actually had a job on Wall Street if he never applied?

Clinton is making herself look silly now. Just stop!! She cant win

For all I know ,experience matters than a mere empty rethorics from a half -term senator.

All of a sudden,experience has become a forbidden word just b’cos
Hillary is running for president.

Shame on you all ! and pls read my comment.

Hell, no! The two writers Jack quotes have been anti-Hillary from the start, and Novak in particular is a bitter, far-right propagandist. If you were playing a game and were behind in the fourth quarter, would you quit because the opposing team’s cheerleaders said you should? Again, Hell, no!

Don
Abingdon, IL

Jack like you said all three are in the same boat. So it comes down to who people think can lead this country. What I don’t understand is how can McCain win the Presidency if 70% of the nation is against the war? and he is the war candidate. Obama has run an excellent campaign well organized and Hillary was run a poor compaign with people leaving. So based on that should it be Obama????

You want experiance Jack?
well looks like our only option is to Clone “Ronald Reagan” Because every president since then has been wasting our time and the future crop looks to be in a severe drought !
Whats our options
McCain=war monger
Nader=Ron Paul Clone
Hillary=in severe distress with Bi-poler issues
Obama=Accoarding to Hillary a nieve radical Muslim that hates America
Im doing a right in Vote:Jack Cafferty for Pres.

I’ll take wisdom, dignity, and integrity, since only former Presidents have experience at being Presidential (for better or for worse.) That’s why I support Sen. Obama.

Electing senators to the Presidency has a VERY uneven history. Fifteen senators have occupied the White House. ONLY two, yes two, sitting senators–Warren G. Harding and JFK–have been elected president, both died in office. While JFK deftly coped with the Cuban missile crisis, Harding managed a corrupt administration that fostered the Teapot Dome scandal. Hopefully, we will not have to hear one of the two senators that will be our presidential candidates repeat Harding’s critical self-assessment: “I am not fit for this office and never should have been here.”

EXPERIENCE DOES MATTER. Therefore, we must not minimize Life Experience. Colleges and universities give degrees based on Life Experience.

It is real. It is tested. It’s definitely is true of one’s character.

Obama has Life Experience of bringing different parties to the table for a commom purpose. Congress will require than a 51% vote to pass the legislation that each candidate is proposing.

Therefore, we need someone with the Life Experience to get those of diversity and sometimes, opposing backgrounds, ideals, and philosophy to talk, negotiate, and produce results.

Who can deny this?

Jack,

Don’t we all remember this famous saying of Benjamin Franklin “Well done is better than well said”. To say it well just requires oratory skills. To do it well certainly requires EXPERIENCE. We all know which Democratic nomination contender stands out.

What experience? Company execs, governors, first ladies? Only those elected to second terms ever had the experience. At best it’s a roll of the dice. At it’s worst it’s George W. Bush.

All of Hillary’s experience — including involvement in TWO former presidential campaigns — should have taught her something about running for president. Yet whose campaign is having problems with money, volunteers and organization? Who squandered a double-digit national lead? No one gave Barack a chance. But he has hired good staff, spent money wisely, and inspired both volunteers and voters. It’s a perfect example of the “hope plus hard work” combination that he believes can change Washington. Judy from Cape Cod

Jack, obviously experience doesn’t matter as shown by today’s fiasco. That Obama picture that shows him wearing Muslim garb is what I mean. CNN has just a few minutes ago said on TV that the picture was floated around by Hillary’s campaign. Quiet frankly, if that is the truth, I am heart sick as I am a Hillary supporter. Fear mongering, I don’t think so. More like promoting hatred and intolerance as flak from 911. I surely hope Hillary and her camp is NOT behind this. So, should it turn out that it is from her campaign, she just shot herself in the foot and no matter how much experience she toutes will be enough to smooth over this one! She should be experienced enough to know she just gave herself more rope to hang with. Honestly, I hope she and her camp are not behind this one!

Well, I think it is fair to say that McCain has quite a bit of experience., its hard to dispute that and as far as Hillary is concerned, not only does she have experience in government office, but quite a bit of experience with the attack of the opposition, so I would count that as some pretty good experience. As for Obama, let’s see, he was a State Senator and now a US Senator…but wait, we can’t forget about all the experience he had as a youth councilor…does he actually have “Youth Counselor” on his resume? And this guy’s running for President…a guy with lots of “Youth Counselingâ€� experience…wake up America?

Hi Jack,
Experience is not a guarantee.
Experience is not measured on how many years you have doing things but how you have lived your experimental life.
If you just operate in the same way and in the same enviroment your possibility to expand, diversify and mature your experience is very limited.
Sometimes we experience things in our life that come at early and on consequence of that we mature and grow fast.
We need in this historical time a kind of experience that is fresh, that make us believe that we can all bring something good to our society.
I think Senator Obama is showing that he really has experience in bringing people together, has experience in running a successful campaign and managing the money for the campaign.
If you look at the other candidates, they spent lots of money on stupid things and they had to loan some of their personal money too.
I don’t think Mrs. Clinton can be a good President if she spent $100.000 for a tea party.
People that have to try to save pennies every day understand the economy better than Mrs. Clinton and McCain
I apologize if there’s any grammar mistake, English is my 3rd language.

Yes Hillary should get out now! She is part of the problem, not part of the solution. All she offers is politics as usual. She is just trying to ride on her husbands coat-tails.

Somebody (I think, it was Larry Sabato) said a year ago that it is not up to Republicans to win this elections - it’s up to Democrats to loose. GOP did what they could - they nominating the least unplausible and the most moderate candidate and now they’re enthusiastically waiting for Democrats to nominate the only real candidate (beyond Kucinich and Gravel) who could loose in November by the landslide - Obama. I’m a Democrat and I’ll be voting McCain against Obama… Who knew?

If, as Oscar Wilde said so pointedly “experience is simply the name we give our mistakes”… the US has had plenty of politicians, some of them presidents, who, because of the gross mistakes they have made (invading Irak is the most prominent one of recent date) can claim that they have broad experience… and oh boy, under this definition Bush may be the most “experienced” of them all…
Maybe this one time, you should pick someone without any experience at all…

Ready on Day One?!?! Give me a break. Hillary can’t even run her campaign effectively. That alone says it all for me.

Experience is important, but the commitment to do something is even more important. The country has innumerable problems such as increasing unemployment, economy slowdown, drop in home sales, rising fuel costs and uncontrolled war expenditure. Only someone who understands all issues, their root causes and the way to resolve them though stakeholder consultation can deliver. As such, only Obama, who has experience in community development , apprears to be the right candidate.

Of course she should drop out. After all, the political excitement about her opponent hasn’t been rivaled for a candidate since Europe of the 1940’s.

Mr. Cafferty.
Experience really does matter and especially taking into consideration the fragile state our nation is in at this time.
Hope? We all have hope. Change? We all want a change from what we have had the last 7 years.
Half of the Democrats have forgotten how good the Clinton era was…
As much as I myself like Mr. Obama, There is no way at all that he is ready to handle what is in store and as inspirational as his speech (yes, the same one all year) is, they are in fact words and as Tina Fey said on SNL this week, would it be so bad to have two intelligent people in the White House???
HRC/2008!!!

Its interesting how “experience” doesn’t seem to serve a purpose in terms of selecting a president. It’s even more amazing how we tend to forget the “experience” we’re enduring now under bush’s regime…

Obama has not been tested and his rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of bush’s just prior to the 2000 election. If Obama wins the presidency , God help us.

With McCain at the helm, we’d find ourself digging deeper into another Depression, compliments of Iraq…

At least with Hillary in office, we’d have more to blame than just “experience” or lack thereof, were she to repeat any of the mistakes made by bush’s regime in the last 7 years.

The greater good for the greater number: Hillary.

The two presidents that you mention, Kennedy and Truman, both came to office without executive experience and both handled the situations that you mentioned. In both cases previous experience was not really applicable. Noone had ever made the decision to drop an atomic weapon and while Eisenhower had played brinksmanship with China the Soviet Union was only involved peripherally.

How much “experience” did JFK have running a business? Sure, he at least had some military experience, but being born rich means never having to actually work for a living… and Harry Truman had little business experience - except for a failed (bankrupt) business adventure in a haberdashery. He, too, had military experience, but his political experience was mostly as a Senator and a “last-minute choice” for VP, during which time, he seldom saw the President (who snubbed him).

I believe the willingness to listen and to lead is critical in this day and age and I think Clinton’s so sure she knows it all that she doesn’t *have* to listen to anyone, except maybe Bill.

I hope our country has the courage to see that America needs a new, fresh face and approach to global relationships, the economy, and a vision for this country.

experience does not matter to the new generation. Thank god they only want someone in that white house to restore favor in the world. While bush may have focused on the terrorists the rest of the world thinks he was the terrorist. Bring all the folks home and see how the world feels about us then. After all the iraquis will be busy trying to restore some semblance of order and we can get back to a non-halliburton based economy. Truth justice and the american way!!!!!!!!1

Jack,

Experience working within a reasonably corrupt system accounts for a lot. Only an insider would have the ability to persuade others into pursuing an agenda disadvantageous to the said others.

Frank - NH

With the canidates boasting about executive experience to take over the first day. None of them held an executive position in terms of service. But Obama’s foresight about the war in Iraq and the global repurcussions in the world market gets my thumb up in approval. If that is not the intuition of a leader then I don’t know what one is.

Experience is very important, but an open mind, and intelligence are of equal value and are all needed. None of the candidates posses all three. But I’m willing to trade intelligence, even if inexperienced, for the idiocy we’ve had for the last seven years.

There was once a president named Reagan whom had little experience. There was a president by the name of Lincoln whom had little experience. There was a president by the name of Kennedy whom had little experience, and there was also a president by the name of Clinton….whom had little experience.

Each of these men’s presidency transformed and transcended American History. Based on this pattern of inexperience that achieved greatness…….I’m feeling very comfortable with the name President Barack Obama….and his little experience.

The negative remarks and comments being spread throughout the news media about Senator Hillary Clinton are outrageous. Hillary Clinton is the best-qualified candidate and we need her as our next President. She knows what needs to be done and how to get it done. Hillary is intelligent, knowledgeable and a strong leader with a good heart. She is the right choice for hope, change, solutions, results and leadership. Give Senator Clinton a chance. She has my support and my vote.

Of course experience matters, some voters just will not open their eyes and see what George Bush’s bad experience has brought to this country. If you want another unexperienced president and have things get possibly worse, then vote for Obama.

As I have stated before, god forbid, if Obama becomes president - another 9/11 is a sure bet. How frightening it would be if that man becomes our next president. Hillary, no doubt, is capable of running this country more so than Obama. What a shame that people of this country cannot (or refuse) to open their eyes to see that Obama is not the right choice. If you think this country is in bad shape now - imagine how much worse it will be if he leads our country. I’ll be the first one back on these forums telling all the Obama supporters “I TOLD YOU SO”!

We are in the middle of a war.
Social Security needs solutions.
Medicare needs solutions.
The economy needs solutions.

Oh never mind. Who cares? Certainly not CNN.

If Obama gets elected everyone gets a new pony. That’s what’s really important.

History doesn’t repeat itself, and there are no reliable methods I know of to predict the future; therefore I believe that the main qualities a great leader must have are to properly understand the present and make the right decisions based on that , to gather around him (her) the best people and inspire the people to work towards the same common goal by giving up their petty rivalries. Past experience matters too, but only after these qualities.

Jack,
It isn’t really experience that matters but good Judgment that counts. No one has lots of experience when they have their first child, but with the right judgment calls you can raise a healthy, bright child. How is putting in someone with lots of bad experiences a good move for the country.

nope. less experience means they havent figured out how to rip off the american people yet! Hillary has experience learned from Bill on how to handle the truth carelessly. more of the same shit we have now

None of the three front runners have presidental experience because none of them have ever been President. I can say, I can do my manager’s job because I know what she does. The point is, I have never done her job. I think the word experience is being used to loosely. There is a difference between knowledge and experience.

Yes, experience matters and none of the candidates have enough to be President. Experience and decision making ability are huge factors to me. The most experienced is probably McCain and the least Obama. Obama has only shown the ability to read speeches well. Clinton probably does not get the recognition she deserves for being an active first lady. She was probably the most active since Eleanor Roosevelt and a huge asset to her husband. Obama probably has demonstrated the best decision making ability but this might be bc we dont have a lot to go on with him. I will probably support Clinton or McCain bc I feel that they are more likely to get something done that will help me in my life.