Generally, even if a candidate lacks some particular experience, say in foreign policy, they have an overall proven capability to lead (like Bill Clinton).
But Barack Obama has nothing. He never really ran a business. He was a "community activist" but wasn't even president of his Homeowner's association. He was a low-level member of the state legislature for a while, and has 150 days or so of work in the Senate spanning about 3 1/2 years.
He wasn't in the military, he wasn't a law firm partner, he wasn't an elder in his church, he didn't captain a sports team, he wasn't even a boy scout senior patrol leader.
Barack Obama actually has less leadership experience than I do.
So Barack has a unique challenge -- to pick a Vice Presidential candidate who doesn't immediately make people think "why isn't this person the Presidential Pick?", while at the same time not picking a candidate who people say "wow, that person couldn't be dog catcher".
In his latest attempt to thread the needle of an inexperienced but not spooky-scary VP candidate, the Obama campaign has floated the name of a Republican Cabinet Official from the Bush administration, Ann Veneman:
Barack Obama's vice presidential search team has floated the name of a member of President Bush's first-term Cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, as Obama's running mate.
...
But Veneman, 59, has a biography that could be suited to Obama's unifying message. A Republican raised on a California peach farm, she rose to become the nation’s first female agriculture secretary. In 2002 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was treated successfully. Today she serves as executive director of the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF.
As you can see, she is properly inexperienced in elected office. However, her directorship of Unicef means she has more executive experience than Obama, and as Agriculture Secretary she showed an ability to lead an executive department with a multi-billion-dollar budget. Obama has barely shown an ability to keep his own staff operating without embarassing him.
This is a crass political move -- and they admit it:
"You select a strong independent woman who appeals to Republicans and independents, and so that's hard to beat," the Hill source said, explaining the logic of the possible choice. "Choosing someone like [Veneman] doesn't hurt you with the Democrats. It just doesn't hurt you. But it helps you with Independents and Republicans."
Of course, in the real world none of us really remember Anne, or care much about her. She wouldn't make any Republicans or Independents vote for McCain, and I doubt she would draw any to vote for Obama, unless he swapped places with her.
Not that there is any chance of this happening. Some democrats are already blasting the idea:
... the mention of her name was met with incredulity on Capitol Hill."Are you serious?" one lawmaker asked vetters when Veneman's name came up, a second source familiar with the conversations said.
The surprise stems from the fact that, while Veneman was seen as an experienced leader for her department, she often clashed with Democrats on a central battle front of the Bush years: regulation. Venemen was criticized by some Democrats and environmentalists, and praised by agriculture and food interests, for lightly regulating the industries and for encouraging trade and biotechnology during her tenure.
...
also clashed with Democrats — including then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, who is now an Obama confidant — over subsidies for small farmers, which they sought to expand.
On 2nd thought, I think I like this woman. All the more reason Obama won't pick her, and if he tries, his handlers will slap him down.
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