A central tenent of Obama's campaign has been that judgement is more important then experience. He claims to have good judgement...he claims that he was right from the beginning on Iraq...he claims he will be right on day one of his Presidency. It is fair to look at his record and examine his judgement.
According to BlueMassGroup.com, "The one thing that Barack Obama seems to try to push is his judgment, he uses this to offset thoughts that he is too green and lacks the experience with his brief time in the Senate. So, let's discuss his judgment.
The Huffington Post reports that on January 17th, 2001, three days before Donald Rumsfeld's confirmation to George Bush's administration, Barack Obama gives credit and praises Bush's appointments. Obama says that he thought that Rumsfeld was in the mainstream of American, quote from his appearance on "Chicago Tonight", emphasis mine:
"The proof in the pudding is looking at the treatment of the other Bush nominees," Obama said. "I mean for the most part, I for example do not agree with a missile defense system, but I don't think that soon-to-be-Secretary Rumsfeld is in any way out of the mainstream of American political life. And I would argue that the same would be true for the vast majority of the Bush nominees, and I give him credit for that.
Here's the video:
