Saturday, September 06, 2008

The vaunted, part-time experience of Barack "Present" Obama


Do 150 days in the U.S. Senate -- most of which were spent campaigning -- really count as a qualification for the Presidency?

How about experience as a state senator? According to the New York Times, Barack Obama said that the state job was a "part-time position".

He wasn't kidding. In examining the tax returns of Chicago's Annenberg Challenge, I discovered that Obama maintained two offices for several years. One was his state senate office; the other was in the law firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland.

In short, progressives enjoying mocking Sarah Palin's experience (running an $11 billion enterprise with 15,000 employees as governor and, prior to that, helping run a multi-billion enterprise on the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission). But it turns out that her management experience towers over that of Barack Obama.

His tenure in the U.S. Senate? He has introduced no new laws and instead spent the majority of his time campaigning.

His role in the state senate? Aside from voting "present" 130 times -- presumably to avoid taking controversial positions -- he maintained a completely separate office in his law firm.

I'm guessing my daughter's part-time job at the neighborhood dry-cleaner has given her as much management experience as Sen. Obama gleaned from his magical mystery tour.

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