Oprah Winfrey yesterday, campaigning in Iowa on behalf of Barack Obama: "Oprah said, “Experience in the hallways of government isn’t as important to me as experience on the pathway to life. I challenge you to see through those people who try to tell you that experience in politics as usual is more valuable than wisdom outside the walls of Washington, D.C.”
Interestingly, this is the same kind of argument Ronald Reagan and his supporters made in 1980. Reagan too was criticized for a lack of experience; he'd never held a national political office (he'd been governor of California for two terms). He too suggested that he would change politics-as-usual in Washington.
Running against Washington is not a new idea; it's been done many times.
