Experience

There is a lot of conversation about experience and the presidential candidates. "Oh," one side cries, "Senator Obama doesn't have enough experience to be president." Joe Biden worried that the Oval Office was not the place for on-the-job training. Now it's Sarah Palin. She's not experienced enough to be VP. She hasn't met with foreign dignitaries. She hasn't commanded the military. "No, no," they answer back, "a governor has executive experience."

The more I think about it, the less I think that experience is at issue. Is experience really what we need in the office?

Imagine, for instance, that a person has many, many experiences in life with, say, bee stings. He has been stung multiple times. Maybe he survived a killer bee attack. Oh, he has experience with bees. So ... is that the one you want as a bee keeper? Maybe. Does his experience make him run from bees or have they taught him how to handle them?

More to the point, however, I have to wonder how really important experience is. Who, except a president, has had experience of being a president? Wouldn't that, then, disqualify anyone from being a president? No. What you want is people with character, someone who, when faced with something they haven't experienced before, will have an inner ability to go through it and do the right thing.

We have lots of "important" terms being thrown around. "Experience", "change", "principle", these things are offered as "important" things for us to consider. Both sides argue that the other candidate doesn't have the necessary experience. Both parties are "standing for change." A local guy running for Congress argues that his opponent "votes with the party 98% of the time" and promises, "Not me ... I'll vote my principles." Experience may be helpful at some point for some things, but I think I'm more concerned about someone with character and values that will sustain them when they're faced with the things they haven't experienced. And, really, do any of us who has never been a president know what a president experiences? America certainly wants change, but it matters what we change to, doesn't it? It is good, we would say, to stand on principles, but not if we aren't told what those principles are, is it? I'd like a little more information, please, on the character and direction of the people we're being asked to choose.