Legal Commentary

The Perils Of The Experience Argument

By Big Tent Democrat

John Kerry this morning:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You heard Senator Graham, though. He said that she has more experience than Senator Obama.

KERRY: That's just ridiculous on its face. I mean, John -- you know, Barack Obama has been in the United States Senate. . . . [Palin]'s been a governor for, what, the two years now, Barack Obama and the four years [in the Senate]? But, moreover, Barack Obama has traveled abroad.

(Emphasis supplied.) So Kerry's argument is Palin is unqualified because (1) She has been a Governor for 2 years, (2) was not a Washington politician (assuming the House of Representatives would have been acceptable) and (3) did not take a trip abroad like Obama did this summer. Whereas Obama IS qualified because (1) He has been a Senator in Washington, DC for 4 years (as opposed to 2) and (2) he traveled abroad this summer. This is NOT the argument Obama wants.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 31, 2008 (boomark / email).