What Type of Experience?

"Not ready to lead" is a refrain I hear often leveled against Senator Obama. "He lacks experience," a common complaint from Republicans. What is meant, I think, is "he doesn't have the type of leadership I value." The Republican campaign dismissed and mocked his experience as a community organizer. Senator Obama has experience, just not the "right" type of experience.

John McCain on the other hand, he has the experience "America needs." He served in the military and was captured during the Vietnam War. He was tortured. Torture was gruesome when it happened to McCain, even a mark on his belt to show how greatly he loves this country; but for him, it's an acceptable procedure when the USA wants to torture others.

Community organizers work in church basements, public parks, community centers, and street corners. They organize soup kitchens, homeless shelters and rehabilitate abandoned buildings. We were right to be reminded at the RNC that the government which gives you everything is able to take it all away. I appreciate the desire for small government. In many ways, community organizers perform the functions governments can't, don't, or shouldn't perform. How then can community organizers be mocked from the RNC's stage? If we believe in the Republican ideals of small government, we NEED community organizers. Obama understands that.

John McCain served in the armed forces. Let's not mince words: Soldiers kill people. That's why they were in Vietnam, that's why they went to Afghanistan, that's why they are in Iraq. My neighbor, a Marine returned from Iraq, explained it like this:

"We can talk about peacekeeping, education, infra-structure building, and the like all we want. That's not what we did. We went there to shoot the s*** out of people."

John McCain has experience killing, warmongering ("Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran!"?), and supporting an administration that has ballooned our debt, expanded our government, eroded our Constitution, and drastically expanded the powers and influence of the executive branch. Is that the experience America needs?