PRESIDENTIAL RESUMES

To expand on my thoughts from yesterday...is Barack Obama the least experienced man ever to serve as President of the United States, at least when it comes to executive experience (running any kind of large organization) or national political experience (understanding how Washington and international politics works). Let's see what his predecessors were doing before they became President...

George Washington - Officer in the Virginia militia (combat veteran), plantation owner, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolution, President of the Constitutional Convention.

John Adams - Attorney, member of Congress, author of the Massachusetts Constitution, U.S. Commissioner to France, first American ambassador to Great Britain, Vice President of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson - State Representative, Congressman, Governor of Virginia, U.S. Minister to France, Secretary of State, Vice President.

James Madison - Delegate to the Virginia Convention, member of Council of State of Virginia, State Representative, Congressman, prime intellectual father of much of the Constitution, Secretary of State.

James Monroe - Officer in the Continental Army (combat veteran), State Representative, Congressman, Ambassador to France, Governor of Virginia, U.S. Minister to Great Britain and Spain, Secretary of State, Secretary of War.

John Quincy Adams - Attorney, Secretary to the U.S. Minister to Russia (at age 14), various Foreign Service Posts across Europe, Secretary of State.

Andrew Jackson - Attorney, State Prosecutor, State Judge, Congressman, Senator, General of State Militia (combat veteran), Military Governor of Florida.

Martin Van Buren - Attorney, State Senator, U.S. Senator, Governor of New York, Secretary of State, Vice President.

William Henry Harrison - Militia Officer (combat veteran), Territorial Secretary, Territorial Governor of Indiana, Congressman, Senator.

John Tyler - State Representative, Congressman, Governor of Virginia, U.S. Senator, Vice President.

James K. Polk - Attorney, State Representative, Congressman, Speaker of the House, Governor of Tennessee.

Zachary Taylor - Military officer (combat veteran of two wars), General in command of troops in Mexican War.

Millard Filmore - Attorney, State Representative, Congressman, Vice President.

Franklin Pierce - Attorney, State Representative, Congressman, U.S. Senator.

James Buchanan - Attorney, State Representative, Congressman, U.S. Minister to Russia, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, Ambassador to Great Britain.

Abraham Lincoln - Attorney, State Representative, Congressman.

Andrew Johnson - Governor of Tennessee, U.S. Senator, Military Governor of Tennessee (during the Civil War), Vice President.

Ulysses S. Grant - Military officer, West Point Class of 1843 (combat veteran of Mexican War), Colonel of Volunteers, later Brigadier General rising to Commanding General of all U.S. forces in the Civil War.

Rutherford B. Hayes - Attorney, military officer rising to rank of major general in Civil War (combat veteran), Congressman, Governor of Ohio.

James A. Garfield - College Professor, Lay Preacher, military officer rising to rank of major general in Civil War (combat veteran), Congressman.

Chester A. Arthur - Attorney, Quartermaster General for New York, Collector of the Port of New York, Vice President.

Grover Cleveland - Attorney, Mayor of Buffalo, Governor of New York. (after defeat in 1888, returned to practice of law, running again for President, and winning, in 1892, becoming the only man not already sitting in the White House to claim Presidential experience upon entering the office a second time).

Benjamin Harrison - Attorney, military officer rising to the rank of brigadier general in the Civil War (combat veteran), U.S. Senator.

William McKinley - Military officer rising to the rank of major in the Civil War (combat veteran), Attorney, Congressman (eventually Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee), Governor of Ohio.

Theodore Roosevelt - State Representative, Rancher, U.S. Civil Commissioner, New York City Police Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Colonel of Volunteers in the Spanish-American War (combat veteran), Governor of New York, Vice President.

William Howard Taft - Attorney, Superior Court Judge, Solicitor General of the United States, Federal Judge, Head of the Philippine Commission (administering the Philippines, then under U.S. colonial control after the Spanish-American War), Secretary of War.

Woodrow Wilson - Attorney, College Professor, President of Princeton University, Governor of New Jersey.

Warren G. Harding - Newspaper publisher, U.S. Senator.

Calvin Coolidge - Attorney, Governor of Massachusetts, Vice President.

Herbert Hoover - Mining Engineer, business manager and company representative (mining companies), Food Administrator during World War I, Director of American Relief programs after the war, Secretary of Commerce.

Franklin D. Roosevelt - State Senator, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Governor of New York.

Harry S. Truman - Farmer, Bank Clerk, Captain in command of a field artillery battery in World War I (combat veteran), Haberdasher, County Commissioner, Presiding Judge (in effect, head of the county commission), U.S. Senator, Vice President.

Dwight D. Eisenhower - Military officer, West Point Class of 1915, did not see combat in World War I, but rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, President of Columbia University, Commander of NATO forces in Europe.

John F. Kennedy - Naval Officer (combat veteran), Congressman, U.S. Senator.

Lyndon B. Johnson - Schoolteacher, Congressional Legislative Assistant, Head of Texas National Youth Administration Office (New Deal Agency), Congressman, U.S. Senator, Senate Majority Leader, Vice President.

Richard M. Nixon - Attorney, Naval Officer (served in South Pacific during World War II, but did not see combat), Congressman, U.S. Senator, Vice President.

Gerald R. Ford - Naval Officer (combat veteran), Congressman, House Minority Leader, Vice President.

Jimmy Carter - Naval Officer, Annapolis Class of 1946, Farmer, State Senator, Governor of Georgia.

Ronald Reagan - Sportscaster, Film Actor, (did military service in WWII acting in films produced by the Army), President of the Screen Actors Guild, Spokesman for General Electric, Governor of California.

George H.W. Bush - Naval Aviator (combat veteran), founder and head of oil exploration company in Texas, Congressman, Ambassador to the U.N., Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Head of U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing, Director of the C.I.A., Vice President.

Bill Clinton - Attorney, head of McGovern Campaign in Arkansas, College Professor, Attorney General of Arkansas, Governor of Arkansas.

George W. Bush - Businessman (Harvard MBA), Air National Guard officer, Managing General Partner of Texas Rangers, Governor of Texas.

Barack Obama - Community Organizer, Attorney, College Professor, State Senator, U.S. Senator.

So, decide for yourself. Is Barack Obama the least qualified man ever to be President, if you look at those things that would give someone executive or high-level political experience on the national and international scale?

A quick perusal of the list indicates that Obama is the first President to have no executive experience (other than heading up a political campaign) since.....hold it....Abraham Lincoln. That's right. Arguably our best President, Lincoln had never run anything larger than a two-man law office before he ran for President. But, his performance in office proved again and again that he was a natural leader of men, a brilliant politician, and he made himself into an expert on military affairs. Can Barack Obama, who seems to be a very smart fellow himself, do as Lincoln did and educate himself in time to prevent all measures of calamities from assailing the country? Only time will tell. I have my doubts.