Experience is the word du jour in this political season. The debate over experience cuts two ways — it is, of course, a politician’s, not a historian’s, argument.
John McCain and Hillary Clinton have used it as a major talking point in support of their own candidacies and to build a case against Barack Obama. But presidential history attaches little importance to experience; it is strikingly absent in the historical credentials of our most honored presidents.
Certainly, inexperience blighted some recent presidencies, including those of John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and, more memorably, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
(Stanley Kutler is a retired history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This column originally appeared on truthdig.com.)