Organizing for America | Julia Knox's Blog: A Long and Somewhat Rambling Post About Experience

A Long and Somewhat Rambling Post About Experience

By Julia - Sep 25th, 2007 at 12:42 am EDT

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I had an interesting (and frustrating) conversation with someone this weekend. An article about the Hillary Clinton Advocate interview was posted in another forum I'm a part of. This, of course, brought out all the Hillary vs. Obama supporters. It was pretty tame, with most people being respectful of everyone else's view. I did have to step in, though, when I saw this:

"I don't trust Obama. He has no real record to go on and has little experience. Anyone can say idealistic bullshit if they have no record to be judged on.

Hilary isn't perfect but she has experience, I like what she's had to say so far and has been in office with her husband so she understands what it takes.

She's the best for the job IMO."

Now, if you support Hillary because you honestly agree more with her politics and whatnot, more power to you. I don't agree with you, but whatever. But one of my biggest pet peeves is when people automatically feed into the media/HC hype that Barack has no experience. Do a little research, people. So I responded:

"Just so you know, Barack actually has more legislative experience than Hillary."

By legislative experience I meant his years in the State Senate + US Senate because I, unlike so many Hillary supporters, realize that experience does not just come from Washington. Someone else responded saying that couldn't possibly be right, given that Hillary was elected Senator in 2000 and Barack didn't get there til 2004. When I explained Barack had been a State Senator before being elected to the US Senate, she fired back:

"because being a state attorney and child advocate for 19 years, as well as serving in the white house where she held many roles in policymaking both in the executive and legislative branch for 8 years is totally ignorable right?"

Now, ignoring the fact that I never said Hillary had no experience, or that anything she had done was ignorable, how does it make sense that this person is counting Hillary's 19 years of child advocacy and being a state attorney as experience while completely disregarding everything Barack did before he came to Washington?

It drives me nuts when people use his three years in the U.S. Senate to justify his "inexperience." EXPERIENCE DOES NOT ONLY HAPPEN IN WASHINGTON!! If it did, Bill Clinton would have had NO experience at all, given that he was in Arkansas until 1993.

Also, sidenote, I don't get how being married to the President counts as experience.

Now this is not to say Hillary has no experience or anything like that. But one of the main things I like about Barack is that a majority of his experience has come from OUTSIDE of Washington. He hasn't been schmoozing with lobbyists over steaks and cigars. He's been interacting with the people, in the community and the classroom. He knows what the American people need and want, because he knows the American people -- not just the people on Capital Hill.

P.S. I'd rather hear Barack's "idealistic bullshit" than anymore REAL bullshit about "mission accomplished."

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By Erika Hussein Schinler Sep 25th 2007 at 2:36 pm EDT

You do an excellent job fleshing out one of the most glaring differences between the candidates and their respective campaigns/supporters. I've only encountered a handful of vocal Hillary supporters since February, but among that small sample, their visceral response to Obama (and to me) is identical to what you experienced with this person online. They are quick to make a snap judgment about Obama and his alleged inexperience. And then they make a personal attack against him as disingenuous/naive. And then they jump down my throat for being naive and for coloring outside the lines: "It's not his time yet," they tell me with a sneer. "You're messing everything up."

And all of this happens in the space of a few seconds, where I have done nothing but stand there, trying to smile. When I mention his IL state legislative experience or the fact that he dedicated 100% of his time before that to community organization, voter rights, and civil rights they continue to stare at me with disdain or downright hostility. "Hillary is awesome," they say. "She's a great leader."

But is she? She lashed out at Barack when he said he was willing to sit down with leaders in Syria and Iran to discuss a remedy for the quagmire in Iraq. She said categorically that only a fool would agree to such an action and under no circumstances would she deign to sit down with evil savages. And yet, when asked how many troops she would withdraw during her first year in office, she hedges and says that she'll have to wait and see how things are going in the Middle East. Well, why can't she treat future diplomatic activities with the same wait and see attitude?

To me, a good leader should be a good thinker. Good judgment stems from intellectual discipline. Someone who uses personal attacks and conclusary statements as an argument technique is not, in my book, a good thinker. My instincts tell me that someone who would call Barack Obama naive or foolish (I don't think a "fool" has ever graded onto the Harvard Law Review, let alone been selected as its editor in chief by the other high achieving members) is more of a decider and a name-caller, and frankly, I've had just about enough of that mentality coming from the Oval Office.

Anyway, I've gotten off-topic here.

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By Aejaz Dar Sep 25th 2007 at 4:13 pm EDT

Hillary's much vaunted experience led her to vote for the biggest foreign policy blunder in American history, the Iraq War.

Barack, "Mr. Inexperienced," opposed the Iraq War and was very prescient of what the consequences of an American invasion and occupation would be.

Why is this rarely brought up by the MSM?

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