The inexperienced Teddy Roosevelt had only two years in a state legislature and two years as a governor when he became president. He was only 42 at the time. Conservatives consistently rank the inexperienced T. Roosevelt as one of the best presidents ever.
Experience is great when it is combined with wisdom and knowledge. When it is used to propagate the same broken record in Washington, then it is just another way of saying “new boss same as the old boss.” Inexperienced Obama warned in 2002 that Iraq would be a long costly diversion from the war against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Experienced politicians said otherwise. Experienced politicians were wrong.
What good is experience when you’ve fallen into the sewer of Iraq and think every surging breeze that comes by is an improvement? Wisdom would say the thing to do is climb out of the sewer. I have a dog that smart. I have to wonder on the mental faculties of someone who says the honorable thing to do is remain in the sewer another hundred years.
In our local politics recently, 72 percent of the Madison County voters wisely chose an inexperienced newcomer over our highly experienced incumbent chairman. Folks grew tired of the experienced leader because they were tired of the same old politics. Nationally, we are in the same boat. McCain has more years in the Senate. But, do we really want more of the same?
If McCain has the wisdom to go with his experience, when was he being wise? When he was against Iraq or when he was for it? When he was against tax breaks for the wealthy, or when he was for them? When he was against off-shore drilling, or when he was for it? I’m looking forward to hearing McCain debate himself on these issues.
I wanted to vote for McCain eight years ago. This is not John McCain anymore. This is a Washington clone. Give me the new guy. Give me someone not jaded by years in a broken Senate. Give me the in-experienced guy who can move massive crowds with his words. Give me “yes we can” over “I’m sorry, America, no we can’t” any time. Because “yes, we can” is the guy who we want leading us into the 21st century. That is the guy who can bring our country together again, one nation under God.
Sincerely,
Chris Young
Danielsville
I just hope that the next President will see that we ALL want the government to be more responsible, stop wasting so much of our tax money, get our military home safely but get the job done, stop getting into our personal business and home lives, and do the RIGHT thing for the RIGHT reasons. And by the way, stop "voting party" for everything and start voting what's right for us.
Anonymous: Know what I fear? People who fear the unknown. We're never going to get anywhere if we embrace that attitude! But of course, you have every right to hold onto that if you want to.
And you shouldn't fear people who are afraid. Just try to enlighten them so that they are no longer afraid. :-)
And...its not wise to always embrace change just for the sake of something new, either. Good "judgement" should always be used to balance the positive and negative aspects when making a decision.
We shouldn't live in fear, but we shouldn't jump into the unknown recklessly, either.
Life is a constant struggle for balance, and that is exactly what all of these post are all about: a struggle for balance. :-)