Thread: Obamas experience?

Originally Posted by sicboater

going to be IBTL!!!

+1.


good call.

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

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.

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.

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?

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...

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%

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

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.

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 that advisors don't actually make the decision they are advising someone else to make. That's a huge difference. Generals, Governors, large business owners, even Vice Presidents make important responsibility-heavy decisions. Obama's toughest decisions have apparently been whether or not to vote party line or to just miss the vote, or at least that's what I got out of his saddleback forum answer to what was your toughest decision you've ever made. Considering he was only available to cast the votes he was elected to cast for about 6 months until he started spending his time and energies to run for the Presidency, I don't quite understand how anyone could seriously argue that he is more experienced than any two term Senator or even House member to run for President.