I don’t doubt his education, but in my field, education only counts for so far. There’s a term we coined awhile back for it – “overeducated.” It’s like taking an engineer who’s only been out of school for a couple of years, and putting him in charge of a 40 mile highway project. He has the “theoretical” knowledge on how to do it, but if he hasn’t had the practical, hands-on, experience to actually doing it, he’ll fail miserably. That green engineer has to build himself up and go through the motions. The old-time surveyors called it “paying your dues.” There are things you learn when you go through the trenches and when you end taking shortcuts, there are gaps in your ability to take certain tasks on.
That’s the impression I get with Barack Obama. Now I know this is an opinion. Sure, you can say that he’s done some time in the real world, but it still looks like the thinnest resume in a presidential candidate I’ve ever seen.
There are some surveyors I’ve interviewed, I ask them questions, and I know they don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, and they give BS answers or give simplistic solutions because they’ve never actually done it (but they know how to do it theoretically). Maybe they’re padding their resume a little or lot. Anyways, (and I stress this is my opinion, which I know many people disagree with) Obama gives me that feeling.
Now I realize the “experience” thing is not important to most people when it comes to Obama. Which is fine. It is, however, important to me and what I want in a president.
Does that mean that the only person I believe qualified to be president is the president? No. But it would be nice to look at Obama’s resume and not ask the question, “Where’s the beef?”. I don’t have a checklist of “experience” levels that I use to judge the candidates, but when I see thin resume, that tells me something.
I will go out on the limb and say that McCain does have the “experience” I deem necessary for a presidential candidate. He’s been doing this for awhile and I know he’s made some mistakes, and I know he’s learned from them. I’d honestly rather vote for someone else. However, when it comes to comparing the policies that each presidential candidate has, I find that I disagree with McCain less than with Obama, whom I disagree with A LOT. Add the “experience” thing, and I will give it to McCain.
On items where Obama is better, I do like the idea of his theme of personal responsibility, and I do like the idea that he will be seen internationally as an affirmation of the American Dream. I also do like his speaking ability (if not the content). There is also the idea that people around the world will be more willing to work with Obama as President, as opposed to McCain, but honestly these themes to me are vaporware that promise substance, instead of actually delivering substance.
