On experience and how much is enough

[illinoisprogressive]

Matt Bai in the New York Times magazine has an interesting article on how the top 5 contenders for the presidency have little experience for the office.
It is a worthy article but, I was reading Matt Ylegaisis and he points to the fact that Bai only counts obama's current time spent in the US Senate as actual experience. The comments were talking on why is it that the state senate experience is dismissed and not counted as relevant and yet, Hillary's time as First Lady is concidered actual experience.
Past president's actual experience before taking office was discussed and then I came across a comment that made me wonder about how much time is really needed vs. life experience.
We all know Cheney has a lifetime of government experience. For all practical purposes he pretty much has been running things behind the scenes while Bush plays dress up and figurehead.
So, what good is actual government experience when you basically have someone who is clearly not a good person for the job and has 30 plus years experience.
And then, we come to lack of government experience.
We pretty much agree, I assume, that Eisenhower was a very good president and very capable and had excellent judgement.
He had exactly ZERO years of government experience.
thoughts?

[TeamJordan23]

1. A little different, but just look at the fundraising experience of the Clintons v. Obama.

And how Obama is knocking it out of the stadium with his fundraising.

[illinoisprogressive]

2. true! but, also, Eisenhower was president at the height of the cold war and

that is similar to the terrorism thing now. Shows judgement and thoughtfulness and practical thinking goes a long way.
Eisenhower had no elected office and yet was a good president.
So, why wouldn't Obama make a good president as well?
And why is his time in the state senate always discounted and Hillary has her time as first lady counted.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

4. Eisenhower had experience working with--and leading--allies

Also, Obama supporters keep comparing him to Lincoln. You compare him to Eisenhower. I have also seen comparisons to JFK. Apparently Obama supporters have forgotten what happened the last time a young senator whose experience level was questioned compared himself to JFK (let alone Lincoln...)... ;)

[draft_mario_cuomo]

3. The funny thing is Obama has more foreign policy experience than Ghouliani and Romney combined

Yet the press never bothers to question their experience. Ghouliani made sure the trash was picked up on time and cracked down on people who washed windshields of stopped cars. This qualifies him to be president?

==Matt Bai in the New York Times magazine has an interesting article on how the top 5 contenders for the presidency have little experience for the office.==

Who was classified as a top 5 candidate? Did it include candidates of both parties or just Democrats? Among Democrats, Richardson has by far the best resume while Biden and Dodd also have considerable experience. HRC arguably has a lot of experience as well, depending on how much stock you put into her time as First Lady.

==why is it that the state senate experience is dismissed and not counted as relevant==

The same reason minor league experience is not counted when people say "player X" has 10 years of experience. ;)

==Past president's actual experience before taking office was discussed and then I came across a comment that made me wonder about how much time is really needed vs. life experience.==

Life experience is nebulous. Which life experiences qualify you for the presidency? Anyone can claim their life experiences qualify them to be president.

==We pretty much agree, I assume, that Eisenhower was a very good president and very capable and had excellent judgement.
He had exactly ZERO years of government experience.==

He served as the Supreme Allied Commander in the fight against the Nazis. As the nation's top general he had substantial execute experience. You cannot compare him to a political neophyte with zero executive experience.

Regardless of how much the Obama camp tries to make the case that his life experiences qualify him to be president this issue will remain his biggest hurdle. Perception is reality. He is perceived by the vast majority of voters as inexperienced. Will that be enough to cause him to lose? Stay tuned.

The one thing Obama could do to help himself in the short-term on this front is to stop blaming his staff for everything his campaign does wrong. First, people easily see through that. Secondly, it further raises questions about whether he is prepared to run a $2.9 trillion government.

[Adsos Letter]

5. Ike also had to contend with the various competing personalities

clamoring for dominance during WWII...talk about herding cats!

However, as I recall, much as he despised Joe McCarthy he wasn't very effective in reigning him in what with the Red Scare and all. We need someone who can stand up to the demagoguery which feeds on popular fears, imho.