Analysis: Personality trumping experience in 2008 race?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, the argument of experience has been tossed around a lot at both Sen. Barack Obama and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

But at the end of the day, do voters really care that much?

The question is a big one, because it often comes from the gut. And right now, the gut is filled with fear because of the economic crisis plaguing the country.

Conservative columnist David Brooks recently took a shot at the Republican party, particularly Palin. He expressed doubts this week about Palin's readiness to serve as vice president. What's more, he said the Alaska governor "represents a fatal cancer to the Republican Party."

Brooks praised Palin's debate performance and called her a natural political talent, but told a New York audience Monday that "experience matters."

"Do I think she's ready to be president or vice president? No, she's not even close to that," he said.

"...Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas," he also said, in remarks first reported by the Huffington Post. "But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas, but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin » has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices."

Campaign 2008 has seen a variety of issues take center stage: A financial market meltdown, bankruptcy, government bailouts, war and global warming.

If ever there were a time when experience matters, this is it. That may be why McCain has said, "We don't have time for on-the-job training, my friends."

While he aimed that statement at Obama, it could also apply to Palin -- who has virtually no foreign policy experience or experience with issues on a national scale.

Experience, however, is a funny thing. People want brain surgeons to have it. They want car mechanics to have it, along with military generals and even those who repair homes. They might prefer it if Palin went to Harvard. Watch more on whether experience or personality is winning out »

But former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan all came to Washington as outsiders with almost no national experience.

"The outsiders critique the system, say things that we like to hear," said political scientist Kiron Skinner. "It also gives us hope to know that someone who is not part of the machine can come to command the electoral center. It says that anything is possible in this country."

That sentiment also reflects the history of individualism and a distrust of government. So how do voters weigh political experience now?

"Years on the job does not necessarily translate into good judgment. And judgment is what really the presidential election is about," Skinner said. Watch 'bellwether' voters weigh in on the issues »

Obama plays the judgment card every chance he gets. McCain is trying to trump it with his unique brand of experience. Both, however, are running as outsiders, which is part of a long political tradition.

With anxiety in the streets over the crumbling economy, there will be a short future for anyone who doesn't credibly address the trouble we're in -- a point that has been lobbed at McCain. He has been criticized by Obama and Democrats recently for "turning the page" on the economy.

But with as much anxiety as is out there, the arguments for judgment and experience -- never mind change -- are going to be measured as dramatically and harshly as history has ever seen.

CNN political producer Ed Hornick contributed to this report.

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