Obama leapfrogged someone far better qualified...and Joe Biden supporters will never forgive him...

[sfam]

This argument that Obama "knowingly" leapfrogged a more qualified person in his opportunistic pursuit of the presidency is just silly. Unless that person is Joe Biden, the argument instantly falls apart. Did Hillary leapfrog Biden even though she knew he was more experienced? Does this make her a shallow opportunist?

Perhaps voting for President isn't necessarily about choosing the most experienced. We better hope that's the case, or else McCain has already got this thing sewn up. And if its not simply about picking the most "experienced, most qualified candidate" - e.g., Joe Biden - than perhaps we can end the whole "Obama stole it from her" line of thinking.

You can berate Obama's experience in comparison to Hillary's - this is certainly a fine argument to make, one that potentially has merit. But there are quite a few other dimensions we need to recognize, including leadership capabilities, the ability to inspire, organization strengths, and yes, judgment.

In other words, aside from convincing the party establishment to support Hillary, nothing at all in this election cycle indicates that anything was owed to her, or that anyone has stolen something she rightly deserved. Biden "rightly" deserved this if anyone did.

[Muttocracy]

1. Obama and Clinton both value their careers more than having the best president in office nt

[LordJFT]

2. actually the people don't want a war funding supporter in office

[Growler]

5. Agreed

> actually the people don't want a war funding supporter in office

This is a big reason why I've always been turned-off by Hillary.

That, and her unelectability....

[Texas Hill Country]

11. they have both supported funding...

[leftynyc]

13. Who has voted against funding?

I missed that.

[LordJFT]

22. Every candidate except Biden has voted against bills with no timetable

[sfam]

3. Um, this wasn't really my message...but...

I really did struggle in choosing between Obama and Biden. I still believe that Biden has one of the only real intelligent policy positions on Iraq. But I still think Obama is a far better choice for President.

EDIT: This thread was obviously (or so I thought) more about the comments coming out from Hillary supporters.

[movonne]

9. Would it make you happy if he was VP then....

[KittyWampus]

14. what the fuck? As a Biden supporter, I'd say that's the biggest pile of crap.

[Muttocracy]

17. that didn't come across well, and I'm sorry

what I meant was, I doubt they did a study on "who would be the best president", found it was somone else, and then "leapfrogged" them. Whether one believes they are ready/qualified/experienced enough, whatever, I don't see much difference between the two of them, so as the OP said, these arguments are silly. It's what I call the 6th and 8th grader arguing about how educated they are when we already took the grad students off the list.

[JimGinPA]

4. Biden Would Have Been My Second Choice - Dodd My Third...

I preferred Obama, but had either of them won the nomination I would have supported them.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

6. Biden's experience was too concentrated. Richardson was the most well-rounded (no pun intended).

[sfam]

7. Fine - same thing applies there. Is Hillary shallow and opportunistic for...

taking what was "rightfully" Richardson's? The argument is just silly. So why are Hillary supporters saying this about Obama?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

8. Maybe because they're delusional. I don't know how else to explain it.

[Texas Hill Country]

12. My hope was for a Richardson/Clark ballot... but oh well...

[book_worm]

10. If it's about experience then Biden, Richardson or Dodd would have be our nominee

It can be argued that DK has more experience than either Hillary or Obama as well.

[gravity]

15. I think Obama is best qualified to run the nation

[sfam]

19. But he doesn't have as much experience as candidate "X"....

That's the thing about "most qualified". There seems to be an assumption from some that we all agree with what "most qualified" actually stands for. This, in large part, is why we have come up with different choices.

[Skidmore]

16. Biden was toward the very bottom of my list, and not because of his

experience. He has plenty. The problem I have is that a lot of times when there is no filter between his brain and his mouth.

[sfam]

18. Wait, are you saying we shouldn't be deciding on experience alone?

Gee, this type of thinking sort of destroys the whole "Obama has stolen this from the more qualified Hillary" line, doesn't it?

[grantcart]

20. There is no leapfroging - its an election, you compete you win and you lose

Biden had a fair chance and he lost. So did Edwards, Richardson, Kucinich, and Clinton. And I have been working for Edwards for 2

years


Do you want to know what the supreme fucking irony is about this? Its this: That Obama spent years working and talking with

ordinary people, many of them very very poor, trying to find ways to help them improve their lives. Who would have thought that

walking the streets talking with people and motivating them to do something would have been better training and better experience

than sitting in rooms with other people talking about it. People continue to underestimate him and patronize his experience, turns

out he was in the best classroom in the world.

You got it all wrong - Obama has the best experience - he deserves what he has got and he proved it the old fashioned way

- in an election.

[sfam]

21. Actually we're in exact agreement. Reread my OP...

My post was geared towards those Hillary supporters claiming that Obama is "leapfrogging" the more experienced (e.g., qualified) candidate. If they are going to be making that argument, then they are also saying that Hillary leapfrogged Biden.

In other words, the leapfrogging argument holds no merit.