The red herring of experience
Experience doesn't matter. Sure, sometimes experience can help illuminate to us the good judgement and vision that we already suspected in someone else. Sometimes experience can provide hints at whether someone has the solid character we hoped we saw, but that's all it is. A resume is just a flag in the wind, an imprecise hint at the core of that person.
I've always believed this when hiring people and conducting myself as an entrepreneur. I also rant about it when I see investors or CEOs who rely too heavily on name brands on a resume instead strength of vision and ability to execute. And I think it is the same in politics. Experience is neither a good or bad thing, it is at best benign but often misleading indicator of a person.
Nicholas Negroponte once said to me that America's chief asset was its belief in its youth. That while Europe and Asia tried to innovate, their cultures simply would not allow them to put the reigns of a start-up, a company, or a country in the hands of the person who truly deserved it.
If you live in California, Massachusetts (which combine for 73% of my readership) or 22 other states then next Tuesday, February 5th will be one of those rare days when your vote will actually help pick a leader instead of getting stuck in typical electoral math. If you've never voted in a primary, this is the time to do it.
Whether you're thinking about McCain, Romney, Obama, Clinton, Paul, or someone else - just remember that there is absolutely no correlation between experience and success as a President. James Buchanan, a former Secretary of State with almost 30 years under his belt, is generally regarded as our worst President. Abraham Lincoln, one of our most inexperienced, is regarded as one of our very best. The resume doesn't matter, it's the person.
Doesn't everyone remember the 1992 Republican infiltration of the Democratic convention, where they were all wearing pins that lambasted Clinton as an inexperienced governor from a small state? Clinton was younger than Obama is now.
I'll be voting for Obama, but this isn't about that. This is about respecting those around us more for what we believe they can make happen than for what has happened to them. I leave it to JFK, who's daughter just endorsed Obama, to sum things up:
"Well, I'll just say that the question is of experience and the question also is what our judgment is of the future and what our goals are for the United States and what ability we have to implement those goals. Abraham Lincoln came to the Presidency in 1860 after a rather little known session in the House of Representatives and after being defeated for the Senate in '58, and was a distinguished President. There is no certain road to the Presidency. There are no guarantees that if you take one road or another that you will be a successful President."
Senator John F. Kennedy, 1960 televised debate with Richard Nixon
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