Experience, Exshmerience... blah, blah, blah

Much has been made of the pick of Sarah Palin vis-a-vis the experience issue. Democrats, and some Republicans, have said that her selection "takes the experience issue off the table." Even Charles Krauthammer, for whom The Refugee has the highest regard, laments in a recent Washington Post column that this issue has been negated:

Palin fatally undermines this entire line of attack. This is through no fault of her own. It is simply a function of her rookie status. The vice president's only constitutional duty of any significance is to become president at a moment's notice. Palin is not ready. Nor is Obama. But with Palin, the case against Obama evaporates.

For the Republicans, it's beneficial to engage the Democrats in a comparison of their #1 vs. the Republican #2. Even so, Krauthammer and others are missing the real issue. A recent piece is the Wall Street Journal by Peter Wehner makes this abundantly clear and has completely changed The Refugee's thinking in this matter. Wehner argues that Biden has been "manifestly wrong" on issues since Vietnam, and that no experience is better than bad experience:

There are few members of Congress whose record on national security matters can be judged, with the benefit of hindsight, to be as consistently bad as Joseph Biden's. It's true that Sarah Palin has precious little experience in national security affairs. But in this instance, no record beats a manifestly bad one.

Let's do a mind experient. Everyone, both left and right, can agree that GWB has more presidential experience that Barack Obama. So, how many Obama supporters would vote for GWB on the basis of experience? The answer: none. In other words, experience does not trump policy. If Obama had 20 years in the Senate, would The Refugee be comfortable voting for him? No, because Obama is profoundly wrong as a matter of policy.

Experience is a "threshold" issue. Once a candidate has met that threshold, more or less experiences is not relevant to the voter; they will vote issues and likes/dislikes. McCain is right to drop experience as a central theme of his campaign at this juncture irrespective of Sarah Palin as a running mate.

Presidential Race 2008 Posted by Boulder Refugee at September 8, 2008 10:45 AM