History Lesson: Presidential Judgment Trumps Experience

The author of recent biographies of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon has this to say about the qualities of a successful President:

"Experience matters, but its importance is terribly overstated," said historian Robert Dallek, Presidents with sterling resumes often have turned out to be busts, usually because they lacked the key quality a good president needs: sound judgment."

Dallek and several other Presidential historians provide more detailed insight in a column from today's McClatchy Washington Bureau. McClatchy does some of the best reporting coming out of Washington these days.