That's a riot! Only 143 days, and that includes all the "present" votes where he calculated that taking no position at all on issues he was elected to vote on would keep anyone from flagging his votes when he was ready to run for president. What a paper soldier!

Amazing! I never thought of that either! What a waste of tax dollars he turned out to be.

He learned early in his political career that your votes will be scrutinized down the road if you run for higher office. Better not to take a position on anything that might be controversial later. Could be used against you. Better to vote "present" so no one can later say you cast an unpopular vote.

He probably learned this from Mayor Daley.

And he wants to be President of the United States? Leader of the Free World? He isn't even a decent choice for the U.S. Senate!

What a wanker!

143 days. I keep leftovers in my refrigerator longer than that.

Just 143 days? I missed that too!

In contrast, John McCain's 26 years in Congress, 22 years of military service (including 1,966 days in captivity as a POW in Hanoi) now seem more impressive than ever. Even Sarah Palin's experience casts a bigger shadow over Omama's.

Only took me about 5 minutes to disprove this. Here’s a fact check:

Obama was sworn in to the US Senate on January 4, 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama)

He announced his intent to form a panel to begin exploring a Presidential bid on January 16, 2007: (http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/16/obama.papers/index.html)

That’s 742 days by my calculations.

First, thanks cjw for taking the time to fact check me. I abhor posting inaccuracies so I hope you'll challenge me wherever appropriate.

However, the post refers to his on-the-job experience, not the length of time he carried the title or the number of days lapsed since he joined the Senate.

In simpler terms, no "experience" is gained if you're not at work.

Doug

Point taken. Thanks.

I think it's a mute point. Even being a member of the Senate for 742 days hardly makes him qualified to be President of the United States.

btw, I meant "Obama", not "Omama" in my previous post.

This is crazy!

Would any of you go along for the ride if an airline captain had 143 days of ground school? Or take a trans-Atlantic cruise aboard a ship if the Captain had only 143 days of maritime experience? Or undergo surgery by a doctor only 143 days out of medical school? Be represented in a law suit by an attorney with 143 days in practice? Would you even let a guy with only 143 days of practice replace the brakes on your car?

Of course not! Where in the hell is this country going...nuts?

yea well at least hes not a stupid republican who wants to kill our earth

Maybe this will help quantify Obama's 143 days of Senate experience.

There are 180 days in a school year.

There are 254 workdays in a year (subtracting the 6 major holidays.)

Brings Obama's touted Senate experience into perspective, doesn't it?

Comparisons of days on the job don’t really get to the heart of the experience question. Compare Obama's 143 days of experience to a few well known career choices and their requirements:

Most plumbers are required to apprentice for 4 years. That’s 1040 days at 5 days a week for 208 weeks.

A doctor in family medicine is required be serve a residency for 3 years after Medical School. That’s 780 days at 5 days a week for 156 weeks.

An electrician works 5000 hours over 5 years and attends 800 hours of classes during his apprenticeship. That’s 500 days at 10 hrs a day plus another 100 days of classes.

An ASE Certified Mechanic requires 2 yrs of experience. That’s 520 days at 5 days a week for 104 weeks.

Obama’s 143 days pale in comparison, yet he and the Democratic Party think he is qualified to be President and Commander In Chief.

Many of us are sick of mudslinging campaigns resulting in congressional gridlock. Politics are starting to resemble Siamese twins bitch-slapping each other.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden are examples of "politicians" in the distasteful sense of the word. The country needs and wants someone to challenge the way things have been done (or not done) in Washington. McCain and Palin offer a different approach. They are cut from a different cloth.

It is time we demand better from those we send to Washington. The one common denominator in Washington is it is run by lawyers. And it isn't working. The logical thing to do is stop electing lawyers! It could take years to get rid of them all, but we should begin now.

I found this quote at hillaryclintonforum.net:

“Suppose you’re a voter, and you’ve got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don’t think that candidate can deliver on anything at all.

Candidate Y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. For whom will you vote?”

~Bill Clinton

I think Obama is an empty suit who would become a rubber stamp for Reid and Pelosi to create their socialist utopia. I disagree with several positions McCain has taken, but I think he can keep Congress more in line and get more done for the country instead of special interests. My course is set.

I was never a big fan of Bill Clinton, but I found the quote a good one worth sharing.

And during his tenure as a senator, the one single Senate committee that he headed never even met once. Garnered a lot of experience there, didn't he.

Think about it. 143 days. 20.4 weeks. 4.7 months ...

Our children spend more time in pre-school getting ready for kindergarten.

A lot of people are comparing Sarah Palin's experience to Obama's. Obama is running for POTUS against John McCain. So let's compare the two:

John McCain

Congress:......26 Years
Military:...........22 Years

Barack Obama

Congress:......143 Days
Military:.............0

Sarah Palin is McCain's choice for VP. She is a bonus (although she has more executive experience than Obama OR Biden).

Want to talk about Joe Biden? Don't get me started.

Tired of the mess our airline travel has become? Tired of long lines and late flights and crowded airports? You say the last 10 flights you were on were late and had bumpy landings? You say you want "change"?

Try hiring pilots and air traffic controllers with only 143 days experience in something less than (and only marginally related to) flying a plane or controlling air traffic.

That will get you "change" all right. Yep, that'll do 'er.

People, people! We need to focus on "change" and "hope" which, BTW, can be shortened to "chope". Please stay away from anything substantive when commenting about the Pope of Hope. If we are to get the messiah elected, we must constantly focus on chope and not on facts or positions on the issues.

Thank you. That is all.

~ds

By this logic Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd would have been outstanding presidents. The debate should be about what the candidates stand for and have done, not their tenure.

Stop criticizing my Obama! He's our savior, our Moses, our Che Guevara. He's, like, EVERYTHING! He's handsome and articulate. He reaches across the aisle and gives us reach-acrosses! He'll be, like, the bestest President and god we've ever had!

Kumbaya.

Lay off the dude! If years of bribing and buying votes in Chicago doesn't make a worthy candidate for president, what does?

Get a Obama 143 Days Experience bumper sticker here:

http://www.zazzle.com/blank_resume_143_days_experience_bumpersticker-128135428396019615

Hatchacha and Nighthawk bring up an interesting point.
If you're landing on a commercial jet, who do you want...the guy with 22 years experience, or someone who knows how to land the plane? Experience is sometimes a detriment. You lose perspective on the forest because you've been in the same tree for so long. And then there's the idea of Palin as a President. Yeah, I don't think so. Seems to me that Biden has done an excellent job of placing himself in a very marketable position to be Prez. It's just a matter of time.
The bigger danger to us as Americans is a democratic President tied to a Democratic Congress, who REALLY runs this country. Without the push/pull of a bi-partisan President/Congress relationship, we truly DO have a problem.

It is a minefield all right. We don't know enough about Palin yet. Maybe she has what it takes, maybe not. We know a lot about McCain. Not much to know about Obama but what there is worries me. I don't know much about Biden either except he seems to be getting weird the last few years.

I have a question for Michael: If the pilot lacks experience, how do we know if he/she can land the plane? Too much experience is a detriment? Maybe for tree-sitters. If I need open heart surgery, I want experience opening me up, not a resident whose claim to fame is that he hasn't lost perspective. But I agree with your push-pull analogy. A partisan President/Congress relationship would be dangerous. BTW, the idea of Biden as President worries me more than Palin.

This is an election year that will confound historians. I hope we don't make a mess too big for us to clean up.

Torrey, I think the point I was trying to make is that when my pilot is landing the plane, I don't care if he's a 2 year pilot or a 22 year pilot, so long as he knows how to land that plane.
Maybe Obama can do the job, maybe he can't. Maybe McCain can do the job, maybe he can't.
Being the President in this country isn't so much about doing the job as being able to get everyone else to do THEIR jobs....and considering McCain's maverick status, I'm just not sure who has more friends in Washington in the next defining two months.

I hear you Michael but I doubt you meant what you said about the pilot's importance and skill not being measured in your mind by whether he has 2 or 22 years flight experience "so long as he knows how to land that plane". In an over generalized sense we agree, but in truth, the pilot with only 2 years experience shouldn't be landing a 747 without a Captain watching, ready to take over if/when he screws up his approach (which happens frequently and is part of co-pilots' gaining flight experience).

However, if that Captain didn't have the 22 years experience, no amount of "friends" in ALPA can help him get the inexperienced co-pilot to safely and consistently land the 747 at O'Hare.

One of the jobs as President is CIC of our military forces. In my mind, a seasoned veteran should be running that show in case the generals are in danger of "missing their approach".