(Cross-posted at Open Salon)
In the midst of an ongoing debate about the presidential election, a family member forwarded a side by side comparison (completely unbiased, natch) of John McCain vs. Barack Obama. It lists McCain's 22 years experience in Congress against 170-odd days for Obama, though I'm not sure how they arrive at that--probably only counting actual days the Senate has been in session since Obama's election in 2004.
It seems, despite contrary opinions after the nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican VP nominee, that McCain (or at least his supporters) want to polish the experience chestnut when it comes to attacking Obama. That's fine with me. First of all, counting Obama's experience at the state and federal level, let's round off to nine years--six years in the Illinois State Senate, three years in the United States Senate.
That got me to thinking: where would this put Barack Obama among U.S. Presidents, in terms of experience. In other words, among our 43 presidents, who has had 9 years or less experience in state, federal, or in the case of our early presidents, colonial office?
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