Free Republic

People use many words today without fully knowing what they mean — or should mean. "Tolerance," "gender" and "truth" come to mind. But then there is one that rears its head every campaign season: "experience." We've heard this word a lot lately during discussion of latest GOP frontrunner Herman Cain. Many have warned that while he may be appealing and engaging, he lacks the experience to take the helm of the world's only superpower. Some of these critics say that Cain's supporters are making the same mistake Barack Obama's did in 2008: they're choosing a greenhorn based only on a...

People use many words today without fully knowing what they mean -- or should mean. "Tolerance," "gender" and "truth" come to mind. But then there is one that rears its head every campaign season: "experience." We've heard this word a lot lately during discussion of latest GOP frontrunner Herman Cain. Many have warned that while he may be appealing and engaging, he lacks the experience to take the helm of the world's only superpower. Some of these critics say that Cain's supporters are making the same mistake Barack Obama's did in 2008: they're choosing a greenhorn based only on a...

GOP presidential hopeful and Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann today released the following statement to respond to reports that she experiences “incapacitating” migraines: Like nearly 30 million other Americans, I experience migraines that are easily controlled with medication. I am a wife, a mother, a lawyer who worked her way through law school, a former state senator who achieved the repeal of a harmful piece of education policy in Minnesota, and a congresswoman who has worked tirelessly fighting against the expansion of government and wasteful spending. “Since entering the campaign, I have maintained a full schedule between my duties as...

I was as guilty of it as anyone. Before Herman Cain’s rise as a player in the 2012 GOP primary, the easiest shorthand was to describe him simply as the “ex-Godfather’s Pizza CEO.” This, of course, was overly simplistic. The truth is that Cain experience is much more vast than simply running Godfathers. He has a Master’s degree in computer science, was a mathematician for the Department of Navy, served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and has been a popular talk show host. And after Cain’s success at Godfather’s (he...

You don’t have to look far to find “stupid” or “dumb” remarks about Sarah Palin. Whether it is comments in online editorials or people voicing their “stupid” remarks about her in youtube videos, you can always find some critical voice bewailing her alleged stupidity and lack of education. But is Sarah Palin really as stupid as some people would like to think? Let’s take a look. Governor Palin is the daughter of a school teacher. Of course, that alone would tell most people that having an educator for a parent probably ensures the child will end up with a good...

When Herman Cain announced on Wednesday, January 12, that he was forming an exploratory committee to test the waters for a possible presidential bid, he immediately faced questions about his perceived lack of experience. After all, Cain had only a failed U.S. Senate bid in 2004 on his political resume. When Herman spoke to my AP Government class in December, one of the students asked him the same question: "Are you electable, given your lack of political pedigree?" Cain's answer was one that he has since echoed in subsequent interviews. He asked the class to think about the political background...

I must respond to wll these vocal loosers who don't what America to have the President she deservs...... While Sarah has the experience and abilities far beyond Moogly the mna cub, she has something that matters more to me than that: Common sense, and charcater. She will surround herself with those she needs to make the final decisions, but I trust her final decisions much more than I do the man child, who n ever seems to get it right, unless you concede he is trying t5o destroy America. Cutting taxes would have already brought back the economy, and there...

Governor Sarah Palin’s Record That Gave Her A 90% Approval Rating: Energy Independence, Development, and Environmental Stewardship *Governor Palin’s cornerstone accomplishment is AGIA (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act). During the Palin administration, TransCanada and Exxon formed an alliance to build a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the Lower 48. Under Governor Palin’s governance, the project was expanded and revised from what previous governors had proposed with an open policy process for the Alaskan people. More progress was made on this effort than in the previous 30 years. This is the largest private sector infrastructure project in North American history and...

"Ideas may be cut loose from experience in two senses: either they have no roots in experience, or they are not submitted to the test of experience. Either way, they are free to be foolish." So wrote Jeane Kirkpatrick in the Introduction to her landmark book, Dictatorships and Double Standards (New York, 1982, p. 10). Kirkpatrick's statement applies perfectly to the band of naïve idealists now in change of our government. The youthful dreamers guiding the Obama administration have almost no private-sector experience. Like Obama himself, the Cabinet and host of czars who direct policy have spent their lives in...

"Ideas may be cut loose from experience in two senses: either they have no roots in experience, or they are not submitted to the test of experience. Either way, they are free to be foolish." So wrote Jeane Kirkpatrick in the Introduction to her landmark book, Dictatorships and Double Standards (New York, 1982, p. 10). Kirkpatrick's statement applies perfectly to the band of naïve idealists now in change of our government. The youthful dreamers guiding the Obama administration have almost no private-sector experience. Like Obama himself, the Cabinet and host of czars who direct policy have spent their lives in...

Last week's flap involving Gen. Stanley McChrystal was notable for many things, but what stands out most in my opinion was how it reflects the declining respect that so many Americans have for those in leadership positions. While decorum can be imposed by fiat, it is genuine respect that prompts teams to achieve in all fields, and which must be earned. I'm not going to defend the general, who clearly overstepped his bounds and had to be dismissed to maintain civilian control over the military. But he was (and I am) clearly frustrated with micromanagement of the Afghan campaign by...

WOW - you've probably seen Pailn's facebook post by now on Obama, BP and the fact that the president has yet to even speak to the CEO of BP about the oil spill. Apparently Palin's head is exploding because she is pimp-slapping President Obama like crazy. Gary P., who writes extensively on Palin has his take on her reaction - and challenge to Obama - plus a great Elvis tune. She really lets the big O have it.

Executive experience was a focus of the 2008 campaign. In the nascent days of my supporting Gov. Palin, I had noted that of the four people on both tickets, she was the only one with any executive experience whatsoever. The man at the top of her ticket – John McCain – has no executive experience. Neither did candidate Biden. Candidate Obama only had for his non-Senatorial (state and federal) resume, community organizing, and an editor’s position on Harvard Law Review – though what he edited there remains a state secret. I have often written that while Obama was a fantastic...

In mid-February 2008, fresh from winning a bunch of Super Tuesday primaries, Barack Obama granted an interview to "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Croft. "When you sit down and you look at [your] resume," Croft said to Obama, "there's no executive experience, and in fact, correct if I'm wrong, the only thing that you've actually run was the Harvard Law Review." "Well, I've run my Senate office, and I've run this campaign," Obama said. (...) snip Obama ignored Palin's experience as governor of Alaska, which was considerably bigger than the Obama campaign. But his point was clear: If you're worried about...

Democrats should be our first line of protection against putting a untested candidate on the Supreme court. You'd think one Democrat would wise up and point out a whole stable of qualified Judges who are ready for the job. Then, point out to those who still would take no experience that this decision may well effect their party for 50 years. And this is the Supreme Court, not some entry level job. They have no idea if this candidate really wants to be a Judge, or gets tired of the jobs and quits. At least with Sotomayer, they could argue...

President Obama has selected Elena Kagan, the solicitor general of the United States, as his nominee to replace the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. From her official bio: Kagan came to Harvard Law School as a visiting professor in 1999 and became Professor of Law in 2001. While on the faculty, Kagan taught administrative law, constitutional law, civil procedure, and seminars on issues involving the separation of powers. She was appointed Dean of the Law School in 2003. Aside from employment as an associate in a law firm, her functions before becoming the solicitor general were primarily academic, and later...

Our American CatharsisWill Obama-time be a transitory experience or an enduring tragedy?  For years conservatives have railed about the creeping welfare state. They have tried to tag liberals with being soft on national security, both for courting those who faulted America and for faulting others who courted it. The parameters of all these fights were well known, as talk radio, the blogs, and cable news hourly took up hammer and tongs against the creeping “liberal agenda.” But for all the furor, there were few unabashed leftist gladiators in the arena who openly fought under the banner of radically transforming the...

Medicare and Medicaid are to be headed by a new Obama appointee, and I smell trouble. Robert Pear of the New York Times reports: President Obama will soon name Dr. Donald M. Berwick, an iconoclastic scholar of health policy, to run Medicare and Medicaid, the programs that serve nearly one-third of all Americans, administration officials said Saturday. This is a crucial appointment: The law, signed Tuesday by Mr. Obama, will expand Medicaid to cover 16 million more people, squeeze nearly a half-trillion dollars out of Medicare in the next 10 years and establish many demonstration projects to test innovative ways...

Watch as Glenn Beck reveals the "real world" experience of past presidents' cabinets and compares them to Dear Leader's appointees.

A friend sends along the following chart from a J.P. Morgan research report. It examines the prior private sector experience of the cabinet officials since 1900 that one might expect a president to turn to in seeking advice about helping the economy. It includes secretaries of State, Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Energy, and Housing & Urban Development, and excludes Postmaster General, Navy, War, Health, Education & Welfare, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security—432 cabinet members in all. When one considers that public sector employment has ranged since the 1950s at between 15 percent and 19 percent of the population,...