Which is more important to have: Experience or a plan?

[UrbScotty]

It would be nice for our nominee to have both, but what if you could have just one or the other?

[JohnKleeb]

1. little bit of both

My guy at first glance has little experience but in reality he has been in this for a while, since the late 60's to the mid 70's, yes I know in the 80's he wasnt involved. His plan also I like, oh his plans are great, thats probably why I support him, and his plans supposely make him unelectable, sigh thats a bummer.

[ibegurpard]

2. Very difficult to separate

If you have a plan but no experience why should I give your plan any credibility? Similarly, if you have experience but no plan why should I trust you are doing anything other than trying to rest on your laurels?

edited for spelling

[Renew Deal]

3. And that's what makes Clark a great choice.

He has experience as a turnaround and FP expert and he has a Turnaround Plan for America. Wes Clark is the perfect choice for our times.

http://clark04.com/issues/

[diamondsoul]

4. This is a heck of a coinicidence!

I just posted to the thread about Dean being right about Hussein in the exact same vein as this thread's subject-

My issue with Dean is that he doesn't have a plan to start from to get the US troops out of Iraq. A plan can be negotiated, adjusted, revised, etc. according to the issues that arise, experience with no plan doesn't do much in the way of starting the ball rolling.

Let me make an analogy that most house-wives/husbands will relate to. I have plenty of experience at keeping an immaculate house. That doesn't change the fact that my house has been so thoroughly trashed before that I walked in looked around and had NO clue where to begin cleaning it up. The latter is what George Bush has produced. Now if I walked in with a plan, I'd at least have a starting point, and if something else gets in the way then I can alter the course of the plan a bit to deal with it. Without that plan, I'm dead in the water, standing in the middle of rubble and wondering how I'm ever going to clean it up.

[hedgetrimmer]

5. ACTION! plans often do not come to fruition upon the guidelines

of it's blueprints.... experience will give you some insight to pitfalls, but only if you've had pitfalls... if everything you have touched came out perfect then you have experience for everything to come out perfect... not for any setbacks....

the only thing anyone needs more importantly than any of the fore-mentioned is ACTION!... with out it everything else is moot.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

6. More experience is always better

and when you have experience it is more likely that you will have a good plan. In fact it is almost impossible that you wouldn't.

[LWolf]

7. Other: BOTH. N/T

[Northwind]

8. Experience is of course nice

But we should remember that no one except the incumbent ever has experience being President. They might have experience that will help them in the Presidency, such as being a state Governor, but they do not ever have direct experience of holding the office of President. And no one ever has more than 10 years experience as a President, ever. Howard Dean, just as an example, has 11 years of gubernatorial experience, where as Bush will never have more than 4 years of Presidential experience.

[forgethell]

9. Experience to do what?

that is the question. The president needs to know in what direction he wants to move the country. How much experience did * have in foreign affairs? Zip, nada, zilch. but look how far he has advanced his agenda. Why, because he knew where he wanted to go. did he take us in the right direction? I think we all know the answer to that. but he is consistently getting his way.

If the Dems don't have a vision, they don't deserve to win, and won't. Experience is a fine thing, but you can buy and sell it like beans (lawyers, accountants, engineers,technocrats, all can be hired regardless of political affiliation). We need a distinct vision of what we want to accomplish. Exactly how can come later. Then the American people can choose. I have faith that they will choose rightly.