A lot as been made of Obama's supposed lack of experience-- and not just in the MSM, where one would expect it, but here on DKos as well.
In this diary, I hope to explain why Obama's experience (both where he lacks it and where it is greater than other candidates') is one of the main reasons I am supporting him.
To do this, I will first look at what people usually mean when they criticize Obama's experience. Then I will explain what experiences of his make me believe he'll be the best President of the lot.
So first: what do people mean by experience and why is it not so important?
Join me below the fold, if you can stand to read something that's not about Scooter Libby...
As Obama himself said the other night when I heard him speak in Minneapolis, when people talk about experience, generally what they're really talking about is judgment. They assume that experience of a certain kind indicates that someone has good judgment.
But this is clearly not the case. If we were to select a 2008 candidate strictly based on who has the most experience, especially in the post-9/11 world, we would be initiating a Draft Cheney movement. The Vice-Decider's experience is pretty much unrivaled: he's been a Congressman, White House Chief of Staff, and Secretary of Defense in addition to his 2 terms as the head of the 4th branch of government.
Dick Cheney's had lots of experience in Washington, but it hasn't led to good judgment.
Experience can even be a negative, I would argue. Sometimes, the longer one stays in Washington, the more one buys into the DC groupthink, a preconceived set of notions about how things work, what's possible and what's not, and so on. We all read every day on DKos about how the Washington pundits are so out of touch. This happens to politicians as well. Sometimes a fresh perspective is good.
Now this is not to say that experience is entirely irrelevant. But it's one factor, and a not entirely simple factor in evaluating a candidate.
But I said that Obama's experience is a major factor in my support for him. And I'm not talking about his lack of Washington experience, though for the reasons I've just outlined, that's not a problem and may be a net positive.
What I'm talking about are his life experiences.
Obama is the only one of the leading candidates (to my knowledge) who lived abroad for a substantial portion of time (4 years in Indonesia, plus many years in Hawaii, which is unlike any other US state). He grew up in a struggling household and never knew his father. He has spent years working alongside the urban poor. He has been a professor of Constitutional law. If you haven't read his book, Dreams From My Father, I highly recommend it. It's incredibly rare to be able to read something written by a potential President (without a ghostwriter) at a time when he clearly wasn't planning to run. It's a much more revealing book than The Audacity of Hope (though that's good too!).
The perspectives generated by these experiences would make an Obama presidency unique. Obama would be able to do a lot to improve the world's perception of America, one of the principal tasks of our next President. And he would be able to bring some hope back to America's urban poor.
There is no question about Obama's intellect. And he has shown exceedingly good judgment (if you haven't read Obama's 2002 speech about the war, do yourself a favor).
Obama's platform is good, though there are things I would change if I could (for example, I wish he'd endorse single payer health care). But I think Obama's character, formed by his experiences, is what sets him apart. It's the reason I support him, and it's the reason why I think he'll be a great President.