I heard an interview with somebody on the political career of Barak Obama and, above all else, the timeline of this career caught my attention. You can double-check my information in many places including the Wikipedia article on the man.
After doing several noteworthy things including being the editor of the Harvard Law Review, Barak Obama ran for office. And then he kept running for office. Check out this out:
1996: Elected to the Illinois State Senate
1998: Re-elected to the Illinois State Senate
2000: Lost Democratic primary for US House of Representatives
2002: Re-elected to Illinois State Senate
2004: Elected to US Senate
2007: Running for President of the United States
I don't know whether this is good or bad but if Barak Obama wins the election for President, he will have held three distinct political offices in ten years (and he tried to hold a fourth). He has the most experience as a state senator (8 years, assuming he held office through his primary loss in 2000) and just two years as a US Senator. I'm hardly one to speak as I've only held a single job for a little over 3 years but his rise through the political ranks seems relatively fast.
I want to like Barak Obama. I have done far too little research to have an informed opinion about his political views but he seems something like my generations JFK. He seems to be capturing the imaginations of many people.
As one political commentator pointed out, though, a political campaign is designed to try to overcome weaknesses in a given candidate. How do you overcome the weakness of inexperience? Put differently, even if his views strongly align with mine (which I'm sure they don't), do I believe that he will be able to effectively execute those ideas given his quick ascent through political offices?
As a point of contrast, John McCain has been a senator for Arizona for the last twenty years.
I'll let you decide whether experience is an asset or a liability in this case. In the very least, it is easier to follow the track record of the candidate who has been around a while.
