August 29, 2008 - The Obama campaign wasted little time today, after the announcement by John McCain of his VP pick, in attempting to exploit what they perceive to be an obvious weakness in Gov. Palin: her lack of experience.

Indeed Gov. Palin’s experience is limited. She served as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska from 1992-1996. Following other unsuccessful political endeavors, she was elected as Alaska’s youngest Governor and the first woman to hold that post, in 2006. To date she has served about 1.5 years as Governor; not a tremendous experience base.

There is another interesting fact that bears mentioning. Barack Obama’s experience is equally scant. A look at his resume reveals that he served as an Illinois State legislator between 1997-2004. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in the fall of 2004 and was seated in 2005. His term of service as a U.S. Senator has been about 2.5 years, a year more than Gov. Palin’s.

It’s fair to point out the Governor Palin has been working as a full time Governor for the 1.5 years she’s been in office. Senator Obama began running for President shortly after he entered the Senate. For the past 18 months has been involved in a grueling campaign against Hillary Clinton. If you subtract the time he has been absent from his Senate job, there really is little to no difference in the amount experience between Palin and Obama. Palin has another thing going for her. She is a Governor. The electorate has long recognized by their voting patterns the value and preference of gubernatorial experience ove Congressional experience when it comes to the presidency.

The attack on Palin’s experience will backfire in the end, because it points out Obama’s own inexperience. Yes Gov. Palin may be only a heartbeat away from the President, but in contrast, Obama inexperience won’t be a heartbeat away from anything. Hillary Clinton said it best, with regard to Barack Obama’s experience: "The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training."



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