Relative political neophytes have gone on to become great presidents, but the trend seems to be pushing toward lack of experience as a trump (so to speak) card. To at least some degree.
The article chalks it up to "freshness" being attractive and general public disgruntlement with the politicians in the system. "Throw the bums out!" if you will.
But I wonder if a big part of that is the microscope underneath which politicians now operate, driven by both interest groups and the media, that grab and emphasize every single action, vote, proposal, and speech a politician gives. The art of compromise, horse trading, or even understanding what bills are about (hint: politicians don't necessarily support every provision of every bill they vote for) is lost, in favor of the ability to look for politicians who absolutely vote exactly the way you want every time.
Which means, perforce, the longer you are in politics, the more likely you are to do something that's going to cheese off the gun nuts, the pro-choicers, the pro-lifers, the occupiers, the tea partiers, the peaceniks, the hawks, etc. There may be perfectly legitimate reasons for doing so, or it may be a slip of the tongue or a poorly phrased argument, but surely as the day turns to night, you'll blow your presidential aspirations.
I'm all in favor of transparency, but sometimes we have to realize that when you peer through windows sometimes you see things you won't like — and choosing someone who hasn't done such a thing … yet … doesn't mean you're getting a good candidate, just one who hasn't ticked you off …yet.
Why Americans Like Inexperienced Presidential Candidates
Just how unprepared is unprepared enough?
In my so-called profession of engineering, the term "rookie smarts" somehow gets used un-ironically. And as an old fart, I just don't have that rookie-smart smell…
How long had you had the "trump card" in your back pocket? 😉
+The Bruce, Mile High Donald as my witness (Duck, I mean), I wrote it down before I even realized what I was doing.