The Experience Thing

Ryan Lizza has a great piece in the NY Times "Week in Review" about the rising importance of star power in presidential campaigns (a favorite theme of mine) and the ways in which too much experience can become a handicap. The article is, however, a reminder that the imperative to frame questions in a journalistically compelling way can end up downplaying the level of experience our current candidates have. Lizza says the existence of comparisons between Barack Obama "only underscores how the bar for experience has been lowered in the ensuing decades" since "Kennedy, after all, had five years in the Navy, six years in the House, and eight years in the Senate, not to mention a Purple Heart, the Navy Medal and a Pulitzer Prize."

Obama has no pulitzer prize, but his first big is very well-regarded and his second book is considered unusually good for a campaign book. Kennedy, meanwhile, didn't actually write Profiles in Courage (it's also, in my opinion, a kind of awful book, but that's neither here nor there). Obama's years as a political organizer in Chicago probably have more actual relevance to understanding urban poverty issues than time as a junior naval officer has to national security issues. And Obama's time as a state senator in Illinois is, in fact, political and legislative experience. If Obama wins, it'll still be the case that Jimmy Carter sets the record for lack of political experience in the White House; only Mitt Romney is really aiming for the prize.

Along these lines, it's obviously her star power rather than her experience per se that's driving her campaign, but if she becomes president HIllary Clinton will probably be one of the very most experienced chief executives in modern times (back in the day, presidents like James "I Wrote the Constitution" Madison had qualifications nobody can beat). She was, by most accounts, an important advisor throughout the political career of a man who served two years as Arkansas attorney-general, 12 years as governor of the state, and eight years as President of the United States. She definitely does lack certain kinds of administrative experience, but she's about as knowledgeable about the full range of relevant topics as anyone who's ever done the job.