The Experience Argument fails.
Hillary has run for Senate in New York - one of the Bluest Blue states in the U.S. She ran with a household name - Clinton. I know NY is the home of Guliani and Petaki, but it's also the home of Cuomo, Schumer, and 100s of other mainstream machine Democrats. If she lost in NY given her name and her Husband's popularity (even after Monica), it would have been ridiculous. Before that she was first lady - unelected. Before that she was first lady of Arkansas - unelected. To think that she somehow has more tested experience than Barack Obama is a lie. She was a policy advocate during the Bill Clinton years. But the buck stopped at Bill's desk - not hers. She was free to dabble and advocate from a protected platform. First Lady. She was never called into meetings with the Joint Chiefs at 3 a.m. She never vetoed a bill in the Oval Office. She never actually ran for President and stared down Bob Dole or George Bush Sr. She was first lady.
Yes, Obama has limited experience too. But let's not forget that Obama is 46 years old. He's been out there with his career in public and private service for nearly 20 years. That's not nothing.
But to say that HRC somehow has all of this amazing experience is to denegrate the meaning of experience. At the end of the day, she could decorate the White House for Christmas while Bill poured over briefings with Rubin and Reich. That's not experience...
In this primary season, her first real test on a national, red state - blue state scale, she has failed to win when she needed to. She's failed to be in the lead she expected at this time in 2008. She's behind in states, delegates and money.
Let's just laser in on her performance for a moment, and leave Obama out. She decided to put all of her eggs in the 2/5 basket. She had very little plan beyond that as evidenced by her 11 straight losses in Februrary. She's had a rough time raising money as evidenced by her loan to her campaign of $5 Million. She's failed to control her message. Statements by Bill early on cost her in the court of public opinion.
Her boots on the ground GOTV efforts have been relatively weak. She's relied heavily on endorsements by Superdelegates. She's done well, but let's face it - she's not in the lead and she's lost 11 contests in a row.
This performance reflects how she might perform as President, and it reflects poorly.
'nuff said.