RE: Subject: 143 days....

Today I receievd the following e-mail from a former co-worker:
>
> Subject: 143 days....
>
>
>
> Just think how great a professional of any kind you could be with only
> > 143 days of experience!!!
> >
> > People want change so bad maybe we should lower the experience requirement
> > for physicians, lawyers, airline pilots, etc. This would cause some change!
> >
> > Obama's 143 Days of Senate Experience
> >
> > Just how much Senate experience does Barack Obama have In terms of actual
> > work days? Not much.
> >
> > From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, To the
> > time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory Committee, he
> > logged 143 days of experience in the Senate.
> >
> > That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working.
> >
> > The one single Senate committee that he headed, never even met once.
> >
> > After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be
> > Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fill the shoes Of
> > Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan.
> >
> > Think about it.......143 days -- 20.4 weeks -- 4.7 months .
> >
> > My Grandchildren spent more time in pre-school Getting ready for
> > Kindergarten.


I was going to send off a nasty email response, then I started to do some research. This is what I came up with:

Senator Obama:

Education:
Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, Undergraduate, 1981-1983

Columbia University, Bachelor of Arts, Political Science with specialization in international relations

Harvard Law School, Juris Doctor, magna cum laude 1988-1991
President, Harvard Law Review

Professional Experience:
Developing Communities Project (DCP), Director, 1983-1988

Chicago's Project Vote!, Director, 1992

Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, Associate Attorney, 1993-2002

University of Chicago Law School, Visiting Law and Government Fellow, then Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law, 1993-2004

Illinois State Senator, 1996-2004

United States Senator for Illinois, 2004-present



Senator McCain:

Education:
U.S. Naval Academy, Bachelor of Science, 1958;

Graduate work, National War College, 1973-1974

Professional Experience:
United States Navy pilot, 1958-1981

United States Congressman for Arizona, 1983-1986

United States Senator for Arizona, 1987 - present



So, Senator McCain has earned a living at the expense of taxpayers for the last 50 years, whereas until Senator (DOCTOR!-he does have a doctorate) Obama was elected to national office 4 years ago, he has been practicing law and simultaneously teaching at one of the top law schools in the nation and serving in the Illinois State senate.

There are only 3 living men with the experience to serve as President of the United States, and only one of them will still be eligible to serve after his son's term expires next January. Unless the GOP decides to drop McCain and nominate George H.W. Bush, we will have to pick from two candidates who do not have any Presidential experience.

Oh, and there have been other Presidents with less congessional experience than Senator Obama. Not including state governors, who, let's face it, have a more applicable experience to the presidency than a Senator or Congressman, the following presidents did not serve national elected office before being elected President or Vice President:

J. Adams
C. Arthur
D. Eisenhower
M. Fillmore
U. Grant
H. Hoover
T. Jefferson
H. Taft
M. Van Buren
G. Washington (ok, technically there wasn't a nation for him to serve before he took office, but he wasn't even a member of the Continental Congress)

And here are the ones who were long-time senators before becoming President:

G. Ford
W. Harding
B. Harrison
W. Harrison
A. Jackson
L. Johnson
J. Kennedy
R. Nixon
F. Pierce
H. Truman
J. Tyler

Wow. What a list of winners. With the exception of Kennedy (who got us into Vietnam and to the moon) and Nixon (who got us out of Vietnam but, well, we all know what else he did) and Truman (who won a world war but started the cold war), that's a big list of do-nothing presidents.

So no, I don't mind that Barack Obama had only served 143 days before he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee. He probably got to Washington, saw what a corrupt system we have, and thought to himself, "I can do better than this."