[JMS]

Obama has been a senator for about 6 mo. What does he have as far as experience goes?

This was asked in the "Palins choice for VP" thread by IVBarber! I want to know the answer!!

[ScottS]

Originally Posted by JMS

This was asked in the "Palins choice for VP" thread by IVBarber! I want to know the answer!!

Obama has been a Senator for a lot longer than 6 months.

[Joe Chandler]

What the heck is a 'community organizer'? Sounds like an agitator to me. I mean, his mentor in early life was Frank Marshall Davis, a known communist and anti-white racist activist, who was on the FBI's Security Index. Now, does that make Obama a communist or a racist? No, but it does bring troubling thoughts about his true motivation. I mean, he studied at the knees of Davis (referred to as "Frank" in his book "Dreams From My Father", where he says he went often to Frank for advice and counsel), Wiliam Ayers (a domestic terrorist), Jeremiah Wright (a racist, bigot preacher), he bought his house at below-market value from a convicted felon slumlord (Tony Rezko). Thing is, his associations frighten me. He seems to be the Manchurian Candidate.

[Joe Chandler]

Originally Posted by ScottS

Obama has been a Senator for a lot longer than 6 months.

He's actually only spent 143 days of actual work as a senator (count it up; that's less than 6 months). The rest of the time, he's been campaigning.

[ScottS]

Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

He's actually only spent 143 days of actual work as a senator (count it up; that's less than 6 months). The rest of the time, he's been campaigning.

He's shown up for most of the votes, Joe.

[sicboater]

going to be IBTL!!!

[hoglahoo]

Originally Posted by ScottS

He's shown up for most of the votes, Joe.

Barely.

Barack Obama has missed 290 votes (45.5%) during the current Congress.

Here's a full list of the vote's he's missed since he's been busy trying to convince people he's qualified to run for the highest office in the USA
Missed Votes by Barack Obama | Congress votes database | washingtonpost.com
Obama voted present more than 130 times in the Illinois state senate. I wouldn't trust him to bake a cake because that would require far too many decisions for him.

And how's this for hope and change:

Barack Obama has voted with a majority of his Democratic colleagues 96.0% of the time during the current Congress. This percentage does not include votes in which Obama did not vote.

Obama chairs two subcommittees neither of which he has actually led.

Dec. 29, 2007 |
Doubts about Barack Obama's presidential credentials have crystallized during the past two weeks over his stewardship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on European Affairs, which has convened no policy hearings since he took over as its chairman last January. That startling fact, first uncovered by Steve Clemons, who blogs on the Washington Note, prompted acid comment in Europe about the Illinois senator's failure to visit the continent since assuming the committee post, and even speculation that he had never traveled there except for a short stopover in London.

Even Hillary noticed

Obama responded: “Well, first of all, I became chairman of this committee at the beginning of this campaign, at the beginning of 2007. So it is true that we haven’t had oversight hearings on Afghanistan.”

No wonder he's so admired. He reminds me of the kid that wants to be everyone's friend. He speaks well but won't commit to anything of importance (unless he did it by mistake which he undoubtedly later will make excuses and apologies for)

[JMS]

Originally Posted by sicboater

going to be IBTL!!!

huh? What ia IBTL?

[sicboater]

In Before The Lock.

[Dicestone]

Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

He's actually only spent 143 days of actual work as a senator (count it up; that's less than 6 months). The rest of the time, he's been campaigning.

You took the word right out of my mouth to quote MeatLoaf. Nada experiance, but a hell of a campaigner, don't forget he told us" He's THE ONE."

[jockeys]

Originally Posted by sicboater

going to be IBTL!!!

+1.


good call.

[ScottS]

I guess his success to date as a candidate then must be because of how angry people are at the GOP.

[Joe Chandler]

Originally Posted by ScottS

I guess his success to date as a candidate then must be because of how angry people are at the GOP.

You're absolutely right. Anger at the GOP is the reason he's doing so well. But look at this, too...as angry as people are at the GOP, he should be slam-dunking McCain, but he isn't. That gives me hope that people are smart enough to not punish everyone for their anger at Bush. Cutting off the nose to spite the face, as it were. I think people realize Obama's policies are bad for everyone.

[Russel Baldridge]

This isn't going to be specific to any particular candidate because I haven't followed either campaigns closely enough to discern a "favorite".

But as for experience in general, one of the defining characteristics of human intelligence is our ability to gain actual experience through the actions of others. We can assess the actions of those around us and determine essentially the same conclusions as the persons in question who are gaining the knowledge first hand.

So to spend so much time on a subject that is largely inconsequential is almost a waste of time. Not to mention that any candidate is going to have an entire entourage of specialists that can get them heading in the right direction, should they wade into uncharted waters.

We should really be judging all of our candidates on the ability to learn and be adaptable to incoming scenarios.

[hoglahoo]

Originally Posted by ScottS

I guess his success to date as a candidate then must be because of how angry people are at the GOP.

I think it's because he is so charming in his preac- er, I mean speaking style that some people have said they feel a "thrill going up my leg"

Doesn't the Democratic Congress have a lower approval rating than even the Republican President?

[Joe Chandler]

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

I think it's because he is so charming in his preac- er, I mean speaking style that some people have said they feel a "thrill going up my leg"

Doesn't the Democratic Congress have a lower approval rating than even the Republican President?

True, and if you'll notice, things (economy-wise) such as the price of gas, housing market, etc., didn't get bad until the Dems took over Congress in '06. Not saying they're related, but you can't help but wonder...

[sicboater]

The last gallup poll results I saw where from july (re: congress's job approval rating) and they where kind of funny. The break out showed that the republicans and independants approved of congress more than the democrats polled.

The over all approval rating was a dismal %14

Among Republicans for that time period, the approval rating was %19

Among independants: %14

Among Democrats: %11

The approval rating tends to go low too it seems when gas and food prices rise...

interesting stuff and curious to boot!


a linky link:

Congressional Approval Hits Record-Low 14%

[ScottS]

Yes, Congressional approval just sucks. Oddly enough, the electorate is responding by putting more Dems in both Houses, and plenty of them.

[Jimbo]

What exactly has the experience level of any US president been at running a country, prior to being elected?

I think the more pertinent question is how much experience do the respective presidential advisers have?

James.

[hoglahoo]

Many (most?) Presidents were previosuly governors, top-level generals, or vice presidents. Each of those positions involves making top-level decisions alongside with the President and / or being the most responsible leader of large groups of people over a wide area in so many ways that far exceed that of a less-than-one-term US Senator

Rats, I meant to hit control T and I accidentally hit control R and lost the rest of my rant. It's probably for the best anyway. Actually, I'll see if I can reproduce some of it here (taken from Obama's interview with Bill O'Reilly last week):

OBAMA: ....There is no doubt that the violence is down and that is a testament to the troops that were sent and General Patraeus and Ambassador Crocker. I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated, by the way, including President Bush and the other supporters....[McCain. Barack doesn't have enough experience to admit that McCain was right and Barack was wrong.]

O'REILLY: But if it had been up to you there would not have been a surge. You and Joe Biden, no surge.

OBAMA: Hold on, if you look at the the debate that was taking place. We had gone through five years of mismanagement of this war, which I thougth was disastrous, and the president wanted to double down and continue and open-ended policy that did not create the kind of pressure on the Iraqis to take responsibility and reconcile.

O'REILLY: But it worked, come on.

OBAMA: Bill, look - I already said it succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.

O'REILLY: Why can you not say, 'I was right in the beginning, but I was wrong on the surge?'

OBAMA (hoglahoo's version): Because I don't have any experience, Bill. I've never led anything, I haven't even completed my freshman term in the Senate yet. Not even one term, Bill, but I am confident I can sweet-talk enough voters to get me into the White House. My strongest associations have not been with past Presidents, Secretaries of State, or even foreign relations officials. I formed my political ideas at the feet of a domestic terrorist named Bill Ayers, nurtured them in the church of Jeremiah Wright, and- oh hey wait a minute... this isn't being recorded is it? Damn.
Okay okay let me backtrack for a moment. You're just trying to make people afraid of me because I'm black and I have a funny name.. yeah.. silly season that's it. Elect me, I know what I'm doing (insert deer in the headlights look here)

Oh yeah, I thought it also worthwhile to mention t