Experience and specifics matter

It was great to have presidential debates that finally tried to get the candidates to be specific in where they stood on the issues, when ABC had its televised debates in New Hampshire moderated by Charlie Gibson.

I watched both debates and still could not get any idea on where some candidates specifically stood on issues.

Being an independent voter and having voted for members of both parties in past elections, I was impressed with John McCain and Rudy Giuliani on the Republican side and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic.

They came across as experienced and people who could actually help this country get out of the mess that our current president has put us in.

What was surprising were John Edwards and Barack Obama, who have no experience in any executive office, very little to no distinguished records in government to run on, have no detailed plans on how they will create change for the better in this country,

The buzz word this election year is "change" started by Mr. Obama and adopted by John Edwards and Mike Huckabee. The buzz words four years ago were "family values" and looked what happened in that election.

It will be very frightening if we elect a president with little to no experience, who tells people what they want to hear to get elected and has no detailed plans on how to fix the problems in this country. The person who starts this job in 2009 will have a big job ahead of them.

Experience and detailed plans on how to bring change should not be ignored, Mr. Obama, Mr. Edwards, and Mr. Huckabee.

Thanks Charlie Gibson for making my decision a whole lot easier on who to vote for.

Mike Baker

Schaumburg