Quote:
Originally Posted by GTripp0012
Which is exactly why I feel that electing him to the most powerful office in the world prior to him establishing a decent voting record would be a critical error.
If he's a solid candidate beyond all the hype (and I want to give him every chance to be), he will still be garnering support like this 8 years from now. There's no reason to rush the man into office before we actually know anything about him other than cliches, and a perceived (but not established) set of liberal views.
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Some of our nation's most distinguished presidents (e.g., Lincoln, Eisenhower and Kennedy) lacked political experience when they took office. Conversely, many relatively ineffective presidents (e.g., Ford) had a good deal of political experience when they took office. So, while political experience is important, it shouldn't be a litmus test for who is and is not qualified to be our next president.
In my opinion, the qualities that separate good presidents from bad ones are intelligence, sound judgment, and charisma. Intelligence and sound judgment are of obvious importance. Charisma, however, is also very important. Our president is a chief of state who has to be able to "woo" the general public and foreign leaders. Our nation's faith in the president has a tremendous impact on our economy, the president's ability to push legislation through Congress, the public's faith in our system of government, and our nation's ability to deal effectively with other nations.
Obama is obviously intelligent, appears to have sound judgment and is obviously charismatic. I differ with Obama on many issues (he's far more liberal than I am), but ultimately, I am more concerned with how my president is going to handle unknown events and issues than whether he is pro-choice or anti-death penalty. IMO, Obama has the intelligence, judgment, and charisma to be able to effectively deal with crises that we don't anticipate.