Where's the Experience?

It has been nice avoiding politics lately, but I just have to ask. I'm really not getting it. Someone, please, tell me.

Over and over in the Clinton v. Obama race I keep hearing that Hillary has the experience needed. She has laid claim to 35 years of experience. I even heard a retired general who supports her say that this was his primary reason for supporting her. She has 35 years of experience. What is she talking about? What experience is she claiming? What is the experience that has swayed the general to her side?

Hillary Rodham Clinton was born in 1947. She started out as a lawyer after graduating from Yale in 1973. In 1975 she did a brief bit as a Congressional legal counsel, then married Bill Clinton. She was the First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 - 1981 and again from 1983 - 1992. She was First Lady of the United States from 1993 - 2001. She was involved with organizations like WalMart as well as an organization that promoted children's health care. She failed to push through her "Hillarycare" plan for universal health care in 1994 but helped establish SCHIP in 1997. She has served as a senator for the state of New York since 2000.

I see some experience as a lawyer, some experience as a wife, and some experience in politics. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. He has worked in community organizations and as a civil rights lawyer. He served the Illinois Senate from 1997 - 2004 and has been a U.S. Senator since 2004. It doesn't seem to me that there is a vast difference in political experience between the two. Further, it doesn't seem to me at all that Hillary can count up "35 years of experience" simply by virtue of having graduated from Yale 35 years ago.

There was a commercial that shouted, "Where's the beef?!" I want to know, "Where's the experience?" If we were looking to elect a First Lady, I'd say she has more experience at that than just about anyone I can imagine. But "First Lady" is not the same thing as "political experience". Now, back in Bill Clinton's era, I remember seeing bumper stickers that said, "Impeach President Clinton ... and her husband." Maybe that's it. But if that's it, she can only serve two terms ... can't she?