Saturday, January 26, 2008

Experience and the Presidential Race

I think that comes with the territory. Whichever candidate(s) have the most experience are going to go with the sort of campaign that we've seen from Hillary and McCain. "Ready to lead," that sort of thing.

Whoever has the weakest resume can't exactly say "Vote for me! I have the least experience!" So they're going to point out that they are less invested in the power structure. The irony is that most people tend to concentrate on those areas where they feel the most competent/comfortable, so areas where these people have the least experience are precisely the areas that are most likely to be left on autopilot--run by experienced members of the power structure.

The things that trouble me about both Romney and Obama have to do with their lack of experience in certain areas (especially national security). I do like the way that both of them have presented their domestic policy agendas (ie "Mr Fix-It" and "The Healer"). I think that there is room in the White House for people who try to work in that vein.