Thank goodness for DU Journals!
One of the biggest attacks against Barack Obama is his supposed lack of experience.
There was the one man who served for seven years in the Illinois General Assembly, then one two year term in the U.S. House of Representatives prior to being elected.
His name was Abraham Lincoln, and he did a fairly decent job.
Another man was Governor of New Jersey for only two years. Prior to that, the closest to public legislative experience he got was as president of Princeton University.
That man was Woodrow Wilson, our president during World War I.
Then there was the guy who served two years in the New York State Senate, was Assistant Secretary of the Navy for eight years and served one four year term as Governor of New York before being elected President.
Many can attest to the fact that Franklin Delano Roosevelt did a pretty good job.
Another president held no elective office at all prior to being elected as Vice President, later ascending to the presidency. He was a product of patronage, and was appointed to lucrative positions thanks to his ties to a powerful political machine.
Chester Arthur, while not a great president, was instrumental in reforming the very civil service system that he was the beneficiary of, eliminating a great deal of government corruption. He also won praise for vetoing blatant pork barrel legislation from Congress.
Other presidents were previously cabinet members or appointed officials who had never held an elective office, such as Herbert Hoover and William Taft.
Then there was the guy who served only a two year term as a local sheriff, followed by a year as mayor of Buffalo, NY, followed by two years as Governor.
That was Grover Cleveland, the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Others that rose to the presidency from state governership backgrounds, with no national experience, include Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
In between the two Cleveland terms was Benjamin Harrison. His only elected government experience was one term in the U.S. Senate.
Theodore Roosevelt served two years as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, followed by two years as Governor of New York, prior to becoming Vice President and later ascending to the presidency.
Many military leaders with little or no political experience have run for and won the presidency, including George Washington, Andrew Jackson, William Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes and Dwight Eisenhower.
Granted, there were some not-so-good presidents in there with thin experience. Men such as Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover and Millard Fillmore.But there were also underwhelming presidents with long and vast backgrounds and loads of experience, such as Richard Nixon, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.
All in all, it's about the person, not the resume. And Obama's experience is adequate.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Fighting%20Irish/114
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