Team Clinton has been astoundingly successful in convincing us of one thing: Hillary is the "experience candidate." She has managed to learn so much through her past policy mistakes that we can count on her to get it right this time...
Case in point -- Hillary's abject failure to understand the political and economic landscape in 1993-4 led to the defeat of her health care reform package. Yet, in 2008, she's now considered the expert on health care policy. You've got to hand it to Mark Penn and company: that's a hell of a good job of taking one big-assed lemon and turning it into lemonade.
Packaging Hillary as the "experience candidate" could actually work in the primary. Barack Obama is, after all, a one-term U.S. Senator with four fewer years in National elected office and two fewer terms as First Lady. If Hillary's experience gamble successfully pays off, she could win the Democratic nomination.
But would it be a pyrrhic victory -- and why do I call her strategy a gamble? I believe that by emphasizing the importance of experience, Hillary is setting herself (and all of us) up for defeat in the general election against what the electorate would perceive to be a vastly more experienced John McCain.
Let's compare their "big ticket items" of experience through the eyes of an average voter:
John McCain: | Hillary Clinton: |
Age: 71 | Age: 61 |
Military Service: | Military Service: |
23 years, Navy Pilot (final rank: Captain) | None |
Nationally Elected Office: | Nationally Elected Office: |
4 years in the U.S. House | 7 years in the U.S. Senate |
22 years in the U.S. Senate | |
Senate Committees Chaired: | Senate Committees Chaired: |
Senate Commerce Commitee(104th-108th) | None |
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (104th, 109th) | |
Ranking Member: | Ranking Member: |
Senate Armed Services Commitee(110th) | None |
Now, we all know that quality of experience is more important than quantity. If it came to it in the general election, would I vote for John McCain's experience over Hillary's? Let me be clear:
HELL NO!!!
But, then again, I'm not your average, everyday swing voter -- you know, the kind that you need to win general elections. All of Team Clinton's rhetoric on her "experience to lead from day one" could very well come back to bite her in November.
So, why do I support Barack Obama when he's got even less experience than Hillary? You see, when it comes down to it, I believe that leadership, vision, judgment -- and yes, charisma, trump experience. I believe that a new generation of politically active Americans understands that too. But it's more than belief -- more than faith. If we build this movement and choose Barack Obama to be our nominee, we can prove it.
Put Barack Obama and John McCain before the American people -- the contrast between past and future will be blindingly obvious. Put Clinton and McCain before them, and the past is all they will see. Who do you think they'll choose then?