Monday, February 04, 2008

The Hillary Clinton "Experience" Issue Debunked.

I want to address this red herring that Barack Obama isn't experienced enough to lead America. First off, it is true that Obama has only been in the U.S. Senate for two years but Hillary hasn't been in the Senate much longer, she's been in there five years--that's only a three year difference. It's not like Obama is fresh off the streets as the Clinton camp has been trying portray him. He has 8 years of political experience in the state government of Illionois. He learned there that to get things done one must compromise and have good judgment. Obama wouldn't have lasted eight years if he was seen as having poor judgment. To say that he doesn't have enough experience and understanding of important political matters and making decisions based on those matters is a slap in the face to Illinois voters who voted for him. Sure the U.S. Senate makes decisions on a bigger scale than the state level but the process of going about making a decision to base a vote upon is similar whether it is the state level or the national level.

But Hillary Clinton has White House experience you might say, well, not really. She didn't sit in on classified meetings with the President Bill Clinton and his inner circle.

Hillary may have had a front seat to her husband's presidency but in the end she wasn't responsible of the important decisions that a president must make. There is a big difference between supporting and advising a president than being the one who sees all the classified documents and has to make the difficult decisions that only a president is responsible for.

And I find it telling that the Clinton's won't release papers that would enlighten us as to exactly what Hillary did and did not do during Bill's presidency. If there wasn't anything to hide and if it would prove her talk about being so "qualified" from those years then you'd think they would want them released to help her campaign. The fact that they are being coy about these documents tells me that something stinks in those documents and isn't in keeping with Hillary's claims that she all but made the decisions for Bill.

Yet during those years she didn't hold a security clearance, did not sit in on meetings of the National Security Council and wasn't even given a copy of the president's daily intelligence briefing!! I just can't see the confident, self-important, Bill as sharing the power and prestige of a presidency with her. Bill is a great person for the most part but he loves power and feeling important so I'm pretty sure he kept Hillary from knowing too much and having too much influence/power.

In addition, during trips aboard she was limited to being a spokesperson for American ideals and not being a negotiator for important foreign policy matters. She's no more experienced in making those decisions than Obama, in fact when it mattered she voted the wrong way on the Iraq war and I'm supposed to believe she has better judgment than Barack??? I don't think so. This whole experience song and dance is dishonest and a deception of mass proportions.

The fact of the matter is that no one is fully ready for being president and every president must "learn on the job" to some degree when arriving in the White House. The important qualities that I think are important in a president are patience and the ability to compromise, listen to others and make those decisions based on the best advice and briefings available. Obama has those qualities whereas I don't see Hillary as that patient, willing to compromise and listen to others. She would most likely be a micro-manager and as anyone in business understands, that's not very effective.

The surest way to kill enthusiasm and fresh ideas from your advisers and aids is to micro-manage things. Obama understands the importance and success of delegating the vast responsibilities of an American presidency and yet the Clinton camp has doggedly been trying to spin that as a negative and proof of "irresponsibility." I think if most people are honest, they will see this quality as being one of being realistic and understanding that delegation is the best way to achieve the best results possible.

Hillary's tendency to micromanage everything risks isolating herself from those who disagree with her and isolating her from the American people not unlike our current president. Like Hillary, Bush is impatient, unwilling to compromise with anyone from across the aisle and listens about as well as a two year old.

I think the choice is clear, Obama is the only way to go.

UPDATE: Kiera Philips from CNN just called Obama, Osama. The thing that bothers me most is not the slip up but the fact that she didn't correct herself. I just emailed CNN to complain.

And isn't it convenient that Hillary "teared up" again a day before a big primary and of course the media is playing it over and over again today.

By James from Genius of Insanity.

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2 Comments:

Blogger libhom said...

One of the reasons I voted for Obama today is that Clinton has so much experience supporting the Iraq War.

11:53 PM, February 05, 2008  
Blogger James R MacLean said...

I'm totally on Obama's side. The Iraq war ALONE clinches it for me. But man, stop harshing on HRC for tearing up. I cry all the time about what Bush has done to this country. Anyone who doesn't either is not keeping up or doesn't have a heart.

3:44 PM, February 08, 2008  

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