Question please:How can Obama be questioned about competence?

[Kokonoe]

McCain is afraid to mention his name without looking stupid, and someone is trying to buy up all the diebold voting machines. I say they are just attacking his strong points.
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[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Because he has little record to speak of.

Like it or not, he hasn't exactly got a long track record of getting things done. This is something that will come up over, and over, and over again.

[Kokonoe]

2. Yet his speaking record is exemplary

He has a long track record of what needs to be done.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Speaking, unfortunately, isn't all a President does. (nt)

[Kokonoe]

4. That, and the veto

[Kokonoe]

5. That, and the veto

[nonconformist]

17. Like this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4825736

[stillcool]

7. Not to those of us who bother to read....

http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=274863
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-1993/Vote-of-Confidence/
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=3931
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/03/obama200803?printable=true¤tPage=all
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=BS030017
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=2841
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/opinion/16mikva.html?ex=1360818000&en=9417ee6115534086&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_year_of_the_organizer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303303_pf.html
http://www.illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3a2984
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/29/us/politics/20070730_OBAMA_GRAPHIC.html

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. Sorry, but no amount of links or reading changes the simple fact.

He has not been an elected federal representative for even a full term yet. That is not enough to quell questions about his competency.

[stillcool]

9. I do read...

so I am fully aware of Obama's experience. Thank goodness for the internet, where some interested parties can find answers to their questions rather than depend on one sentence accusations, or the notoriously uninformative talk shows. Don't you just love having information at your fingertips? It's a shame some don't use it.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. I'm not making any accusations here.

And it's not in the slightest simplistic to use this argument against him. If you apply for a job that says "10 years experience preferred" and you've only got 4 years of experience, you're going to have to explain in full why this isn't a problem. Senator Obama clearly has some explaining to do to quell concerns on this issue. You can twist things any way you want, but there's nothing ill-informed about it.

Please note, however, I have recently become an Obama supporter, but this is still an issue for me and a lot of other people.

[stillcool]

13. legislative experience?

or "Washington experience" as a legislator. I mean that is what we are comparing right? Legislative experience?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

14. As I said quite clearly, federal, meaning Washington experience.

I work in this town, and let me tell you, it's a whole other world compared to state legislatures (MAYBE California excepted, but that's probably still a reach).

[stillcool]

15. Okay...you only value experience..

in DC, by the bedside or just in the vicinity...got it. To each his own. I guess you didn't vote for Bill either.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

20. Your reading comprehension lacks quite a bit.

Did you miss this line: "Please note, however, I have recently become an Obama supporter, but this is still an issue for me and a lot of other people."

And no, I didn't vote for Bill in the primary the first time around. But I will ALWAYS vote for the Democrat in the general election in EVERY election.

[kentuck]

6. The Book of Genesis says;

In the beginning was the "Word"...

[Vinca]

10. I still haven't figured out the experience Hillary's claiming.

Is she qualified to be president from watching her husband? The most important task she had during the Clinton presidency was health care and that was a failure. I understand she's been to 80 countries, which is all very nice, but if that qualifies her to be president, maybe the travel agents of the world need to rethink their careers. Apparently she was successful in decorating the Oval Office, choosing White House china and other tasks assigned to the First Lady. Nice, but not a qualifier. She was a corporate lawyer. Also nice, but that would qualify hundreds of thousands of people. Most recently, we've all witnessed her campaign become known as the most poorly run in recent history, unprepared after Super Tuesday and spending cash like drunken sailors. Does anyone know about this mysterious, answering-the-phone-at-3 a.m. experience??

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. I've always been 50/50 on this issue.

Can she REALLY claim that as experience for herself? Part of me says no for the reasons you've mentioned. And yet another part of me says yes, simply because there's no question that she was around for a lot of things and got to witness what happens first-hand. Not to mention, I'm sure she's talked with Bill about issues that came up and has a lot more insight as to the inner-workings of the White House than anyone else in the race.

Of course, for me, none of this mitigates the downright ugly tone her campaign has taken of late. I will never cast a primary ballot for Hillary Clinton after the last month of her campaign.

[nonconformist]

18. Well, one could argue that her foray into health care then gave her critical experience

to implement a plan now. She knows what works and what won't, intimately. She has important connections. I don't really understand why she's criticized for trying to get us all healthcare. Hell, at least she TRIED. It's an issue that is near and dear to her heart.

But, her work as First Lady is not the only thing she's claiming as experience, it goes way back to include things like her being a member of the impeachment inquiry staff advising the House Committee on the Judiciary during the Watergate scandal, which culminated in the resignation of Nixon, but you cannot deny that being an insider in that capacity doesn't equate to experience.

And she accomplished a great deal as First Lady... here's some of it:

Along with Senator Ted Kennedy, she was the major force behind the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, a federal effort that provided state support for children whose parents were unable to provide them with health coverage. She promoted nationwide immunization against childhood illnesses and encouraged older women to seek a mammogram to detect breast cancer, with coverage provided by Medicare. She successfully sought to increase research funding for prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institutes of Health. The First Lady worked to investigate reports of an illness that affected veterans of the Gulf War, which became known as the Gulf War syndrome. Together with Attorney General Janet Reno, Clinton helped create the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice. In 1997, she initiated and shepherded the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which she regarded as her greatest accomplishment as First Lady. As First Lady, Clinton hosted numerous White House Conferences, including ones on Child Care (1997), Early Childhood Development and Learning (1997), and Children and Adolescents (2000), and the first-ever White House Conferences on Teenagers (2000) and Philanthropy (1999).

Hillary Clinton traveled to 79 countries during this time, breaking the mark for most-travelled First Lady held by Pat Nixon. In a September 1995 speech before the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Clinton argued very forcefully against practices that abused women around the world and in China itself, declaring "that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights" and resisting Chinese pressure to soften her remarks. She was one of the most prominent international figures at the time to speak out against the treatment of Afghan women by the Islamist fundamentalist Taliban that had seized control of Afghanistan. She helped create Vital Voices, an international initiative sponsored by the United States to promote the participation of women in the political processes of their countries.

[surfermaw]

16. He is articulate, that is the first thing to look for in a child for intelligence

experienced 4 kids, and 5 grandkids, all were allowed to go to UNC or NCSU two top state supported school, so I know intelligence

[zulchzulu]

19. Dang, you're drunk again...