Comparing McCain’s and Obama’s experience

http://wmbriggs.com/blog/2008/08/28/comparing-mccains-and-obamas-experience/ ^ | WM Briggs

[mattstat]

Barack Obama served 143 days in the senate and no days in the military before he began his run for president. John McCain served 26 years in the senate and 22 years in the military before he began his campaign. (These numbers are from Roger Kimball’s blog.)

There are some immediate problems with these numbers. The “143 days” came about this way

From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United States Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory Committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate.

That’s how many days the Senate was actually in session and working.

The one single Senate committee that he headed never even met — once.

After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fill the shoes of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan.

But during the 26 years McCain was a senator, the upper house was not in session continually, so to be fair we would have to only count the number of days the senate was actually in session over those years. This is unnecessary, because we all know that government and political business does not stop just because the gavel sounds. Therefore, we should give Obama, just as we are giving McCain, full credit for his time in service, which is to say 3.5 years since his swearing in as a senator in January of 2005. He still gets 0 years (or days) for military service. We also have to...

[TnGOP]

There you have it. An Affirmative Action-like boost for Obama, and McCain still beats him 2 to 1.

[rawhide]

Obama is just all platitudes and feel-good squirmy emotions. Absolutely no substance, no experience.

Obama claims to be able to reach across the aisle and work with others, yet there is not one recorded instance of him having done so. Just saying you have the ability to do this, does not make it so, especially in the light of never having done so before.

McCain, on the other hand, whether you agree with him or not, has countless instance of having reached across the aisle and has brought forth much legislation.

How can anyone vote Obama into the highest office in the land?

[ClearCase_guy]

It would be a good point for McCain to bring up in a debate. He could list major legislative accomplishments that he has shepherded with Democrats. "You can ask Ted Kennedy about that one" and "Talk to your vice president, Joe Biden knows what we accomplished with that one". After giving a sufficiently long and detailed list, McCain can ask Obama -- "Now, can you tell us some specific instances where you've successfully worked with the opposition?"

I don't see how Obama can give a smooth answer without it being glaringly obvious that he has done nothing in this area.

[Jane Austen]

Many will vote for Obama only because the alternative is crazy McCain. Sure McCain “reached against the aisle” because that is where he is of the same mind as the “lion” of the Senate. He has Lieberman whisper answers during press conferences. He wanted to be VP for Kerry. His legislation includes McCain-Feingold. He has vile temper tantrums. He wants amnesty.