ON THE DAY HE DECLARED HIS CANDIDACY, OBAMA HAD SERVED 150 DAYS IN THE US SENATE; BEFORE THAT, HE WAS A SELF-SERVING PART-TIME STATE SENATOR

UPDATE: WELCOME ACE OF SPADES READERS!

DO 150 DAYS IN THE U.S. SENATE - THE WORLD'S GREATEST DEBATING CLUB - MAKE ONE EXPERIENCED ENOUGH TO BE POTUS?

NOPE.

WELL.... WHAT ABOUT OBAMA'S EXPERIENCE IN THE ILLINOIS STATE SENATE. HERE'S HOW THE NYTIMES SAW IT IN July 2007:

Asked why he ran for the Senate in a state where rank-and-file lawmakers have been called “mushrooms” (because they are kept in the dark and fed, uh, manure), Mr. Obama said: “Part of it was that the seat opened up. I was living in the district, and the state legislature was a part-time position. It allowed me to get my feet wet in politics and test out whether I could get something done.”

Forming Relationships

From his days as an organizer, Mr. Obama already knew the Democratic leader, Mr. Jones, who had come up through the Democratic organization in Chicago. He had helped Mr. Obama’s group acquire state money for a dropout prevention program that still operates today.

... The new senator, Barack Obama, was a progressive Democrat in a time of tight Republican control. He was a former community organizer in a place where power is famously held by a few. He was a neophyte promising reform in a culture that a University of Illinois political studies professor describes as “really tough and, frankly, still quite corrupt.”

... Mr. Obama did not bring revolution to Springfield in his eight years in the Senate, the longest chapter in his short public life. But he turned out to be practical and shrewd, a politician capable of playing hardball to win election (he squeezed every opponent out of his first race)...

... He positioned himself early on as a protégé of the powerful Democratic leader, Senator Emil Jones, a beneficiary of the Chicago political machine.

... His critics say Mr. Obama could have accomplished much more if he had been in less of a hurry to leave the Statehouse behind. Steven J. Rauschenberger, a longtime Republican senator who stepped down this year, said: “He is a very bright but very ambitious person who has always had his eyes on the prize, and it wasn’t Springfield. If he deserves to be president, it is not because he was a great legislator.”

... When the Democrats took control of the State Senate in 2003 — and Mr. Jones replaced James Philip, known as Pate, a retired Pepperidge Farm district manager who served as president of the Senate — Mr. Obama made his next move.

“He said to me, ‘You’re now the Senate president,’ ” Mr. Jones recalled. “ ‘You have a lot of power.’ I said, ‘I do?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Tell me what kind of power I have.’ He said, ‘You have the power to make a U.S. senator.’ I said, ‘I do?’ He said, ‘You do.’ I said, ‘If I’ve got that kind of power, do you know of anyone that I can make?’ He said, ‘Yeah. Me.’ ”

FACT RECAP:

• AS STATE SENATOR, OBAMA DIDN'T TAKE ON THE CORRUPT ILLINOIS MACHINE OR THE CORRUPT COOK COUNTY MACHINE OR THE CORRUPT CHICAGO MACHINE.

• HE PLAYED BALL WITH THEM TO ADVANCE HIS OWN PERSONAL AMBITION - ACCORDING TO THE NYTIMES.

• AND, AS OBAMA TOLD THE NYTIMES (see above), BEING AN ILLINOIS STATE SENATOR IS ONLY A PART-TIME JOB; THE STATE SENATE IS IN SESSION ONLY A FEW MONTHS A YEAR.

THAT'S NOT MUCH TO BRAG ABOUT. AND IT HARDLY QUALIFIES HIM TO BE POTUS.

LET'S COMPARE THAT TO PALIN:

• PALIN TOOK ON A DEFEATED THE CORRUPT ALASKA MACHINE - UNSEATING THE STATE'S GOVERNOR, WHO WAS IN HER OWN PARTY!
  

• HAVING SERVED 350 DAYS AS GOVERNOR - A FULL-TIME, HIGH-PROFILE TOTALLY ACCOUNTABLE JOB, (AND YEARS AS A MAYOR AN CITY COUNCIL MEMBER) - MAKES HER IS MORE QUALIFIED TO BE PRESIDENT THAN OBAMA.

BOTTOM-LINE: IN ADDITION TO NOT BEING QUALIFIED BY EXPERIENCE, OBAMA'S KOWTOWING TO THE CORRUPT MACHINERY IN CHICAGO AND ILLINOIS MAKES HIM MORALLY UNFIT FOR THE OFFICE.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.