Barack Obama has some genuine strengths: He is good looking, he is unusually serene for a man so young, and he seems decent and straight-talking for a politician. Also he is a man comfortable in his own skin, which is refreshing coming after people like Bill Clinton and Al Gore who are still "growing up" in their fifties.
Obama's weakness is that he is inexperienced. This shows in his numerous naive and inane statements which I will be blogging about in the months to come. But what intrigues me is Obama's insinuation that experience doesn't matter. Whever Hillary chides Obama with inexperience Obama basically replies, "Look where experience has gotten us."
There is some truth in this. Abraham Lincoln had no experience and yet he became America's greatest president. Nixon was experienced and yet his presidency ended in disgrace. Reagan had limited experience and yet his two terms were a triumph. Hillary's own experience is mainly in screwing up.
But this historical record cuts both ways. Eisenhower's experience in foreign policy contributed to American power and prosperity in the 1950s. Jimmy Carter's inexperience resulted in American abandonment of the Shah of Iran and brought us the Ayatollah Khomeini. George H. W. Bush's experience helped assemble an international coalition that won the Gulf War. His son's inexperience led to some serious mistakes in the early period of the Iraq war.
Obama's non-sequitur is that experienced people have screwed up, therefore experience is irrelevant. Apply this reasoning to other areas and its absurdity becomes obvious. Consider the following extensions of Obama's argument: "The experienced CEO made a bad investment, so let's replace him with the least experienced guy at the company." "The skilled skater fell during the Olympic trials, so let's put a guy on a team who has never skated before." "The general made a flawed maneuver, so let's turn over the company to Pee Wee Herman."
The Lincoln analogy--which others have applied to Obama--is flawed. The 1860 election was a single-issue election and focused on a grand struggle that would determine what kind of country America would be. That single issue was slavery. Lincoln had been an anti-slavery man all his life and on this issue he was thoroughly experienced. He had addressed the slavery issue in a series of profound debates with Stephen Douglas, debates that are still studied in classrooms today. Lincoln was inexperienced on matters like the economy, but those issues didn't matter very much.
So what is Obama's great issue? Where are his profound meditations on it? These may be forthcoming, but so far we have seen no signs of it, and my sense is that with Obama, what we've seen is what there is. Perhaps Gertrude Stein's words are applicable: "There is no 'there' there."
Reader Comments ( Page 39 of 40)
571. Michelle,
C,mon give it up, I know you weren't hurt.
Sometimes, when one acts silly people think they're silly.
Did you like the advice?
mac at 5:14PM on Mar 7th 2008
572. You dems are all about sensitivity but look how insensitive youre being to me. Ok, I CAN get over your cruelty. And hey, you go tell the rape victims to MURDER their babies. I know they suffered. I know. But that doesnt mean they should kill a kid. Again, it is not like the kid himself/herself did anything against the girl. And I don’t know how it feels to be raped and I don’t know how it feels to have an abortion, but I really think neither is a wonderful experience. You know, if God exists, he can give you a hope in a a life with a baby from a rape… I don’t know. I just think its like killing a family member to on purpose kill your own kid, small or not.
Michelle at 5:40PM on Mar 7th 2008
573. I also heard if the man doesn't enjoy the sex...you have a girl baby.
mac at 5:43PM on Mar 7th 2008
574. Excuse me
But am I the only one here that thinks brian, Michelle, Observant, the kookoo red-haired lady, and a few more, are fakes???
For a bunch of people that pride themselves on not believing everything they read, or are told, you sure spend alot of time arguing with people that are just baiting you. Or are there fakes on both sides, just perpetuating the blog?
dani at 5:52PM on Mar 7th 2008
575. 574. Excuse me
But am I the only one here that thinks brian, Michelle, Observant, the kookoo red-haired lady, and a few more, are fakes???
For a bunch of people that pride themselves on not believing everything they read, or are told, you sure spend alot of time arguing with people that are just baiting you. Or are there fakes on both sides, just perpetuating the blog?
dani at 5:52PM on Mar 7th 2008
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What am I faking,and why would I fake? Who would I fake,when you think that I fake? Were did you get the idea of a fake?
Observant at 6:42PM on Mar 7th 2008
576. Observant
Is that a line from Dr. Seuss?
dani at 6:48PM on Mar 7th 2008
577. It sure sounds like it lol.
Observant at 6:50PM on Mar 7th 2008
578. Dani 576,
That was funny, actually. I really mean it. And no offense to Observant.
Michelle at 6:53PM on Mar 7th 2008
579. You are faking that you are a completely bigoted moron to get everyones panties in a wad. You fake a whole clan of bigoted morons that support each others opinions. I wouldn't be suspicious if there was just one of you with such distorted points of view, and then there's the way brian baits everyone into the conversation and the rest of you support his ridiculous statements.
I have no problem with whoever you are. In fact I think that you would probably be one of the more interesting people here to talk to, if you were being yourself. I can enjoy someone messing with someone elses head as much as anyone. But it is all getting a little monotonous.
dani at 7:06PM on Mar 7th 2008
580. Well dani,
You and mac and Richelle are all so similar too. Its just monotonous....
Michelle at 7:18PM on Mar 7th 2008
581. How am I similar to mac and Richelle? They buy into the whole charade.
dani at 7:39PM on Mar 7th 2008
582. dani, because I suffer theese fools does not mean I buy into the 'whole charade'. Quite contrary, I find them amusing- in a retarded sort of way. They each have their own brand of idiocy, though similar.. different.
Michelle,
The main diffderence being: I'm man, baby.
mac at 8:04PM on Mar 7th 2008
583. Now the picture is getting clearer, I understand your hatred for christians now.
Your first wife dumped you and your love ,for a christian hypochrist.
Observant at 2:57PM on Mar 7th 2008
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Observant. that's your chosen name here. So go back and observe what I wrote again and tell me if the above statement is correct.
Dude, I keep telling you about the dumbing down thing...
Godless Heathen Brian at 8:30PM on Mar 7th 2008
584. I'll make it easy on you, dude. Lisa had dumped Larry twelve years previously. She did not get together with him again after our divorce. This is stated in the story.
She went on the marry a connecticut lawyer a year later. Maybe Larry is their platonic friend now, for all I know.
Godless Heathen Brian at 8:37PM on Mar 7th 2008
585. It sure sounds like it. lol
Observant at 8:37PM on Mar 7th 2008