Experience Overrated: The Case for Barack Obama

The political pundits, news media and political elite are in full gear for the next political cycle starting in January 2008. The only story getting more play than Iraq, both inside and outside of beltway, is the political future of presidential non-candidate Senator Barack Obama. Senator Obama has made no public decision about running, but his potential candidacy has already drawn criticism from the left and the right. The early knock-he is too inexperienced. If experience counts, then the two Presidents before the Civil War should have been great leaders and the President during the Civil War a poor one. It was just the opposite.

Franklin Pierce, our 14^th president, was a boy wonder in politics. He graduated college at 20, and had his own law practice three years later. At 24 he was elected to the New Hampshire legislature and two years later became its Speaker. During the 1830's he went to Washington, first as a Representative, then as a Senator. He served in the Senate from March 4, 1837 until February 28, 1842 serving as chairman of the Committee on Pensions, an important committee for gaining political favor with the voters.

In spite of all his experience, Pierce proved a weak and indecisive leader. During his term, the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the slavery issue and led to a minor civil war known as "Bleeding Kansas." He was such a poor leader in a time when strong leadership was needed, that his own party refused to re-nominate him. To this day, Franklin Pierce is the only elected President to be denied re-nomination by his party.

James Buchanan, our 15^th president, served as Minister to the Court of St. James (Great Britain) under President Franklin Pierce. Like Pierce, he too started his career in his state legislator. After serving in the Pennsylvania state legislature, Buchanan had been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served from March 4, 1821 until March 3, 1831. During that time, he served as chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, a very important assignment. He then served as the U.S. Minister to Russia from 1832-1834. He returned, and was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy. He was re-elected to full terms in 1837 and 1843. He served in the Senate from December 6, 1834 until March 5, 1845 serving as chairman of the important and prestigious Foreign Relations Committee.

As President, James Buchanan felt that no state had the right to leave the Union, but that the federal government had no right to use force to prevent a state from leaving. This resulted in a paralyzed government that took no action to prevent the coming conflict. Buchanan, for all his experience, watched helplessly as the Union broke apart.

Abraham Lincoln, our 16^th president, had almost no experience prior to his inauguration as President. He had served in his state legislature, and just one two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Elected as a Whig to the 30th Congress, he served in the House of Representatives from March 4, 1847 until March 3, 1849. He was mainly known for opposing the Mexican War and left little mark on Washington during his term.

In spite of his almost complete lack of experience in national politics, Lincoln turned out to be a strong leader and a great President. He had political abilities of the highest order, which he used to keep the nation together during the dark days of the Civil War. He also wrote two of the most celebrated speeches in American oratory history; The Gettysburg Address and The Emancipation Proclamation.

These three men prove that experience is not necessarily a predictor of Presidential success. Senator Obama may in the end decide not to run, but if he does run, history suggests that lack of experience may not be a liability.