Who is more qualified, Palin or Obama.?

Question

I don't care if Obama went to Harvard, I am wanting to know who has more experience in politics!

Answer 1

Obama. If Obama wins election and takes office in January 2009, he will have served four years in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois.

Before that, he was a state senator in Illinois for eight years. He was also a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School during that time.

His schedule from the school shows him teaching two or three classes in the fall and winter terms — usually Constitutional Law III: Equal Protection and Substantive Due Process; Voting Rights and the Democratic Process; and Current Issues in Racism and the Law. In the spring, he would attend the Illinois legislative sessions. It seems a fairly safe bet that, like most legislators, his constituent work — fielding phone calls and helping people in his district — went on year-round. Press reports indicate he would do a small amount of private law practice during the summer. So that's eight years as a public official in Illinois, bringing our total to 12 years.

To get to 20 years of experience, we still need eight years from Obama's career prior to holding public office. Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983. He worked for a year as a financial analyst; in his memoir he said he spent his days behind a computer terminal, "checking the Reuters machine that blinked bright emerald messages across the globe" and feeling like "a spy behind enemy lines." He gave up that job to go into community organizing, work he felt was more important politically. He worked three years as a community organizer in Chicago before going to Harvard Law School. We won't count the junior-level business experience as working "on behalf of families who are having a hard time," but the community organizing work does seem to fit the bill. That brings his work experience to 15 years.

At Harvard, Obama began to receive national attention. He became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review and was recruited heavily by law firms around the country. (He met his future wife, Michelle Robinson, as a summer associate at the Chicago firm Sidley Austin.)

He graduated in 1991. He ran Illinois Project Vote, a voter registration drive, for much of 1992, and then accepted a position with the Chicago firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland. The firm specialized in political and civil rights work and neighborhood economic development work. He also began teaching at the University of Chicago in 1993. He was elected to the Illinois state Senate in 1996 and took office in 1997, so his full-time work after law school comprises five years. That gets us to 20 years.

(During these years, Obama also worked on his career as an author. His memoir Dreams from my Father was published in 1994 and reprinted after his speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. A follow-up, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, was published in 2006. His personal financial disclosure statements show that those books earned him $1.8-million in 2005 and 2006, the majority of his income.)

The other part of Obama's claim is that his experience is "on behalf of families who are having a tough time and are seeking out the American dream." We take that to mean his experience is broadly in the field of public service, and that too is an accurate claim. The bulk of Obama's professional experience is either in elected office or working for a nonprofit, a university or a civil rights law firm.

Answer 2

Obama by light years  

Answer 3

U Really want to know well palin is like freak-en awesome and could totally kill obama any day but then again that's my opinion

Answer 4

Both are equally qualified. Obama was a senator on two different levels; Palin was mayor and is the Governor of Alaska.

Though I'm a Democrat, maybe Palin should've run for POTUS herself (and yeah, to be she's a bit of a MILF).

Answer 5

obama.

Answer 6

PALIN

Answer 7

Palin - she has it all.  She's actually governed, made tough decisions, stood up to corruption.  

Palin all the way.  Her speech brought tears to my eyes - tears of happiness.  She is wonderful.

VOTE MCCAIN/PALIN 08

Answer 8

Palin is certainly qualified to be the vice president.  I haven't figured out what Obama is qualified for.  

Answer 9

Palin! Not because im with them but she is a governor and he was a senator and last time i checked a governor is more experienced than a senator! FOSHO!

Answer 10

Palin. Look at the facts

Answer 11

I personally think that Palin is.

I also think it is terribly telling that people are comparing the VP to the P.

Answer 12

as a likable talking head palin... but if she were to go into a debate over foreign policy... obama

Answer 13

Palin actually has experience managing a city and state. Obama has never even been in a leadership position within the senate or anywhere else for that matter.

Answer 14

Palin since she has more Executive experience.

Answer 15

Palin. By far.

Answer 16

Palin: Governor, fought corruption in Alaska and made it one of the best states, mother of five including a baby with down syndrome - now she has a heart to keep that baby!

Obama: Senator of Illionis and er, um, well, what did he do again?

Palin is freaking awesome

Answer 17

Palin can run circles around Obama.  

Answer 18

Palin has more executive experience running things that matter. She's worked on budgets and the state economy.

Answer 19

Hands down Palin, She is a governor. Obama has just beena "community organizer" and junior do nothing socialist senator

Answer 20

Their overall time in public positions is more or less equal, but since they're running for different offices, your answer is Palin.   Palin is more qualified to be VP than Obama is to be President.

Answer 21

CLEARLY Palin does.  She has been in office for the last 15 years vs Obama for the last two.

The debate comes from the fact that she has only been the Gov. of Alaska for the last year and a half.  Before that she was the mayor of a small town, before that a city council member, before that on the school board.

Obama was a "community organizer" prior to his Senate run.

Even in his time in the Senate, he has only been present 147 days.  Of those days, over 90 times he voted "present" on issues rather than make a decisive "yes" or "no" vote.

Those ARE the facts.

Answer 22

Palin - Governor for two years

Obama - Just a senator for two years!

Answer 23

Palin. But come on now, why do people wnat to keep comparing these 2, shes not running for president...

OH THATS RIGHT! our VP Pick has more EXP then their PRESIDENTIAL PICK! gee that must be embarrassing

Answer 24

Governor Palin has more experience in politics, and more accomplishments in politics.

...But liberals don't care: If you're a race car with more horsepower heading in the wrong direction, what does it matter?