First off, I have to say that I believe a person’s opinions, judgment, and ideas count a lot more than their experience. Everybody starts somewhere and if you base a person’s worth solely on their experience, you’ll soon run out of people. Experience is by no means worthless, but it’s not the most important. This is true with many things, not just politics.

That said, I think it’s interesting that the experience issue keeps coming up with Obama and Palin. Critics who say that Palin is inexperienced are met with accusations that Obama is just as inexperienced and he’s running for president, as opposed to vice president.

Well, this isn’t really an apples-to-apples comparison. Setting aside actual experience for a moment, let’s examine the paths each candidate has taken to their respective positions.

Barack Obama announced he was running for President of the United States in February 2007 and began working towards the Democratic nomination. Obama raised a record breaking $58 million during the first half of 2007. From January to June of this year, breaking and setting more fundraising records along the way, Obama went on to win more delegates than his very experienced opponent Hillary Clinton. In August, Obama announced his running mate, Joe Biden, and formally accepted his nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate, the culmination of a year and a half of hard work, fundraising, and campaigning.

On August 1, 2008, Sarah Palin, when asked about her potential selection as John McCain’s running mate, answered, “But as for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does everyday?” On August 28, 2008, Palin was interviewed by the head of McCain’s vice presidential candidate vetting team.  On August 29, 2008, McCain announced Palin as his running mate.

As you can see, Obama has been under public scrutiny since he announced his intentions to run for president in 2007. The Democractic Party, the largest political party in the US, vetted Obama via the primaries and caucuses held this year and decided that he was the better Democratic presidential nominee. His experience was called into question and obviously he overcame it.

Palin was interviewed the day before her selection was announced. That’s it.

Americans have had plenty of time to examine Obama’s record, his experience, and his decisions. (And to read his books.) Palin’s been in the spotlight for a month and will only be there for another month before we head to the polls.

Just a little something to keep in mind if questioning experience is your thing…