WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama bristled at charges that her husband was not experienced enough for the presidency.
"We've heard this spewed from the lips of rivals every phase of our journey: He is not experienced enough, he should wait his turn," she recently told supporters of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who at 45 is serving his first Senate term. Only political insiders, she said, would look at his life accomplishments "and dare to have the audacity to say he is not ready."
Experience -- and how to measure it -- has become one of the first big debating points of the 2008 presidential race.
In one of the curiosities of the Democratic primary, some of the candidates with the most experience in national politics are at the bottom of the early popularity surveys. By contrast, Obama, with a mere three years on the national stage, is this year's campaign-trail sensation.
And so Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut (with 33 years in the House and Senate) has been trying to heighten the importance of Washington knowledge, making a constant refrain of his claim that President Bush proves the dangers of on-the-job training in the White House. "I think people do care about experience," Dodd said.
Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico (15 years in the House, two years as U.N. ambassador, three years as energy secretary) touts his "unparalleled experience." And Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (35 years in the Senate) has said of his campaign rivals: "It's not so much whether I can compete with their money, but whether they can compete with my ideas and my experience."
Even former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who served a single term before opening a White House bid in 2004, has brought his twist to the issue. Asked at an event last month how he differed from Obama, Edwards said: "Experience. I've been through a presidential campaign."
Advocates for Obama, as for other candidates who are positioning themselves as outsiders to Washington's political culture, like to say that the range of their life experiences makes them more fit for office than those who have spent their careers in government. In Obama's case, that resume includes stints as a community organizer, law professor, civil rights attorney and eight-year member of the Illinois state Senate.
