Shaking the cobwebs & talking about experience

The Gadfly has been dormant for quite a few months, gaining cobwebs.
Well, it's time to shake the cobwebs free - we need to keep the gadfly!
In the midst of an election year, with a much narrowed field of candidates, the issue of experience is frequently raised. On one side, there is a seasoned, geriatric US Senator, McCain, and an "experienced" first lady Hillary Clinton, versus what some have claimed is an inexperienced junior senator Barack Obama.
One should be critical of what is meant by experience, though. There are those who can learn from experience, and others who just experience things. Experience by itself is entirely useless, without reflection, without introspection, without feedback, without a desire to improve.
A great example is the issue of the Iraq war. In the neo-con propaganda fest run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, few cool heads displayed good judgment to see through the falsehoods in the case for war. John McCain and Hillary Clinton didn't. They fell in line with George W. Bush's folly of a war, fought under false pretenses. What good did their "experience" offer them in such a time of crisis? If John McCain and Hillary Clinton can be swayed by the falsehoods of George W. Bush and his cronies, how would they ever stand up for our country against terrorists?
Of the major candidates left in the presidential election, only Barack Obama showed enough judgment to stand against the lies of the George W Bush presidency from the start. Has Obama displayed great judgment at all times? Well, no, but certainly he has never yet committed any level of willful deceit or egregious error in judgment as rushing to a war under false pretenses.
The gadfly would gladly cast an enthusiastic ballot in favor of Obama this fall, and would encourage any other US citizen interested in having leadership with strong judgment and character in the White House to follow suit.