A Math Exercise Regarding Experience.

[Barack_America]

Hillary Clinton:
-Is 60 years old
-Claims 35 years of experience, starting with community activism while she was in law school
-One could argue that some stretches after law school were not dedicated to the community (i.e. Wal-Mart), but I'll ignore that for now.

35/60= 58% of her life spent gaining experience that prepared her for the Presidency
-----------
Barack Obama:
-Is 46 years old
-Began working towards civil rights with efforts to protest Apartheid while a student at Columbia 27 years ago.
-Began community activism in Chicago 22 years ago (followed by law school, more community activism and time spent in the Illinois Senate)

27/46= 59% of his life spent gaining experience that prepared him for the Presidency

Just something to consider. IMO, it's bad news for both candidates for the Democratic primary campaign to be run on "experience", considering McCain destroys both of them in that category.

Sources:
Obama timeline: http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/cands08/obamatime.html
Obama found voice in '81 speech: http://www.kansas.com/news/nation_world/story/286730.html

[jpgray]

1. If length or applicability of experience always translated into good politics

This might mean something. It doesn't. Some of the most experienced pols are the worst.

[Barack_America]

2. I agree.

But, if the Clinton campaign insists on boiling this down to "experience", Obama's resume is not quite as bare as they would have us think. Especially using the criteria that the Clinton campaign has laid out for what "experience" is.