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Does someone who has only visited other countries in the context of staged tours or talks with a country's elite really know the outside world better than someone who has lived as an alien outside the US AND has non-American family? An example: my boss recently visited a country I'd lived in. It was a staged tour and he met with elites who wanted to give certain impressions of their country. My boss' experience of the country was completely different from mine; I lived in a low-income neighborhood and had relationships with my neighbors. I knew what it was like to not enjoy civil liberties and, while I was a foreigner with more freedoms than others, I had friends who had to deal with human rights abuses on a daily basis. Did my boss see any of that–did this tour allow any of those real life issues to be understood? In this sense, I give Hillary's claims less credit and Barack's more.

People who are saying "oh puh-leeze, I visited Paris, and that doesn't make me a foreign policy genius" don't get his point only because, like most Americans, haven't really lived outside the country in an integrated way (i.e. not the same thing as study-abroad!) Having grown up outside the country, I know that living somewhere before the formative age of 10 is HUGE in shaping your worldview, and everyone I know who has had to be a cultural outsider trying to fit in as a child gets this. You learn to respect people different from you and recognize that not everyone thinks like you and must be understood within their own context. To me, that's way more experience than our last few decades of presidents can hope to claim.

None of the candidates, Democrat or Republican can match the experience, knowledge or wisdom of Joe Biden.

Hillary, however, should be ashamed for taking a play from the GOP handbook. She has no credibility now. Furthermore, John Edwards never threw cheap shots. Clinton has no experience, and no empathy to the lives of others in the world. Although not foreign policy experience, Obama's experience will make any foreign policy decisions or votes mean much more on a human level.

Still, we need an experienced and thoughtful President on matters of foreign policy and neither Clinton nor Obama fit the bill.

Joe Biden should have been addressed more by Crish Welch. Wake up Democrats.

What senator Obama is saying is that his experience living abroad helps him better understand the reaction around the world to the policys ouRcountry makes. Maybe many of you are so closed minded that you think everybody thinks like you. An example of this is when our FEERLESS COMMANDER AND CHIEF said that we will be greeted by our Iraqi brothers as LIBERATORS and WITH OPEN ARMS but that was far from the truth. We were met with hostility and violence. Oh and by the way Hillary Clinton with her vast experience of wineing and dinning in different countries or as she calls it FOREIGN POLICY EXPERIENCE went ahead and voted for this war. She has been the biggest flipp-flopper out of all the candidates and if she is the democratic party's candidate the republicans will eat her up and spit her out with their smeer campaign.

Sen. Barack Obama is trying to tell people that he is the smartest guy in this world, because, when He was in another country at the age of 6 to age 10, he totally understand foreign people's mind, and reflect that he has the experience to deal with foreign countries; it make people feel he is such immature thinking, never consider the results when make speech in the public. Now, His age is over 40, but still not pays attention what should say at his age. All American citizens should reconsider his ability whether his can be qualify to run for the US president.

Oh, my.

I bet that Senator Obama would love to take back what he said!! In hindsight, I'm sure he is regreting it.

Tired on the campaign trail and silly things come out of candidate's mouths (all of the candidates)!! And some of the things said are SO hard to live down.

OMG....this man is scarey...4 years overseas as a child...I believe that statement speaks for itself.

I beleive Mr. Obama has an edge when it comes to understanding what is going on globally. I grew up in Somalia until I was 10 years old. I understood better than my fellow 5th graders of what was happening around the world. I'm glad i can relate to what Mr. Obama is refering to.

Well, Pbama's foreign relation experience learnt from age 6 to 10 was more of a muslim life.

He lived with his muslim stepfather (after his bilogical muslim father abandoned him at age 2) in the muslim Indonesia, studying at least two yrs in a muslim school, and going to muslim church. That experience can hardly be on the job application to be the american president.

Hillary did meet with forgein leaders ,no matter what you say she is smart on any policys...its more expierence than her rival barryodrugie,oh i will vote Obama because he has foreign policy expierence at 6 0r 10 years of age when he was a kid..oh so much to be president is he goofy or on something,why would you say that..he is nuts,his world is differnt than mine,gawd,his mind wonders to much i thinks all those drugs did something to him makes his mind not clear.and that could be so ,watch how he speaks hes on a subject then renders to a different situtation in his thoughts,its goes out in airry clauses,its very odd behavior,he doesnt debate,or speech talk..at all.

Where are all the Hillary supporters that said Hillary is above attacking her rivals? I guess she isn't.

Hillary sees her poll numbers dropping big time and is starting to get desperate.

I know America has gone plum crazy!!! I can not believe some of the posts on here really are giving Obama credit as having foreign policy experience because he was in Asia from the ages of 6-10 years old! You have got to be kidding. All of you Obama lovers are not being realistic. You all really believe when a person is 6 – 10 years old that they are saying, wow, what a wonderful foreign policy experience; I can use this 36 years later when I run for President. We are indeed in an alternate Universe.

Biden's response is priceless. Edwards is just continuing the Hillary basing because he thought that since he was Vice President that he would be a shoe in for President. Not true and he is pissed. Poor Edwards. He will be gone soon enough.

Edwards = nuts and is the one who started the negative talk. Also very happy becuase his plan is working. get the two of them at each other wait for them to take each other out and become the new front runner. They may just do this but i hope you go down with them!

Clinton = right about obama but not about herself. That is not good enough either.

Obama = lack of experience here but i find it funny that they are trying to focus on the issues when throwing mud in the last debate. Clinton is sticking to the issue and proving a point. Obama should learn the back and forth with Clinton just makes him look worse.

BIDEN = funny, must experienced, right, and very honest but kind!

Doesn't matter who is president as they all lack what is required. However, you can guarantee that the countries we are "terrified of" won't deal with a woman.

Everytime Sen Clinton talks about foreign policy, all I could think of is her vote in Iraq war and did not further analyze the intel report. As a mother of an Army officer, this hits me hard knowing my daughter could go to another war.

If Obama is going to claim he was gaining foreign political experience between the ages of 6 & 10, then he will also have to claim the Muslim education/religion part, won't he? Can't have it both ways, can we?

Folks...which one can sit across from: Mushareff and other world leaders–and have the fortitude to tell them "if you do not comply we may use our armed forces"?. I personally think Obam doesn't have the guts to utilize ALL the instruments of foreign policy. Or realize..that the military IS an instrument of foreign policy. The Presidents #1 priority is as Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces, particularly right now when our forces are at war. He doesn't have the mettle. And we can not have a Commander-In-Chief who will hesitate! Of course, we also don't want to have one that leads us off falsely, lies to us, and exclaims VICORY prematurely–like he just won a soccer game. My instincts tell me: she'd never shed American blood unless there was no alternative, but she would do it in a heart beat if she felt it was in the national interest. Good, bad, or otherwise–the next President will be in that decision making chair day one. Obama is not ready for that role–not with the lives of my family, and my fellow military brothers and sisters.

Spendng 4 years in Indonesia at age 6 to 10 does not mean foreign experience to apply for a president job!

Obama must be either naive or thinking we are stupid.

Obama should read and learn from the state and national polls stating that Hillary beats him everytime in "most relevant experience", "best leadership quality" and "most electable" for president.

The point that Obama makes is that he lived in a third world country, and that gives him a different perspective than the other candidates. His point was not that this is his only experience.

Clinton's only claim to be president is experience. But Biden, Richardson, and Dodd have more experience than her. Why don't they have the lead in the polls? It takes more than experience to be a strong leader. She leads because she has been in Washington a long time and has Bill Clinton. But if experience is so important, by her argument we should never have elected Bill Clinton over George Bush. George Bush was President, had many years of national service. I don't see in her a leader that can unite this country. That's why she won't get my vote.

Obama needs to shut his yap about foreign policy. The votes that he critisizes others for were often the same ones that he couldnt be bothered to show up for the vote.
This dude is an irresponsible buffoon. The quicker he's out of political life the better for everyone.

She should have just left this one alone. What is her foreign policy experience? Travelling around with Bubba and having tea makes her no more experienced than an editor for Fodor's, does it?

Her best bet is to try and stay above the fray and not open her mouth, but she couldn't resist slinging mud while losing the context of his statement.

I lived overseas in France and Germany between 1963 and 1968, then again in Turkey from 1989-1991. Living overseas does lend an air of understanding to other perspectives which is his point.

As time goes on with Hillary, we'll find that what's in the bottom of the well eventually comes up in the bucket.

Have a nice day!

Of course starting illegal wars in Bosnia, Haiti and Serbia, bombing the Chinese, doing nothing to prevent the first Muslim nuclear weapons, not to mention India developing the same, failing to adequately address Islamic terrorism, failing to reverse the catastrophic decline into anarchy in much of Africa, failing to address the realignment of the old Soviet Union and of course failure to achieve a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. Yes, Hillary certainly has sound foreign policy experience!

gov Richardson is the only candidate for the dems with REAL foriegn relations experience. Is hillary trying to make you believe she was in the room when her husband was talking with world leaders about sensitive private meetings ? what does traveling the world have to do with leading a country ? A international salesmen could make those claims and have more connections than hillary

Again Hillary questioning someones expeience yet again I ask myself where is her experience.Maybe one would ask themselves to listen to Hillary when she says "Let my record speak for itself." Well quite frankly I have come to the real conclusion that she is right.Lets look at her record......
Eight years in the White House being the self annointed solution to Health Care.
result failure
Six years in the Senate,total pieces of legislation proposed by her.
0
Final Grade-F a complete failure

I'm not an Americanand not voting in the elections. I'm an African with a German spouse residing in Germany. I visit my home country (Ghana) with my family (including my three daughters, aged 11, 5, 3). The mere fact of visiting and staying in Ghana has shaped their thinking to respect other cultures and people no matter how different they maybe. But of most important to appreciate the food on the table in a worls were millions go hungry. Against this background, Senator Obama has a very important point and message that his childhood in Indonesia & Kenya has shaped his view of foreign policy.

I have lived and worked in Afghanistan and the experience gained in my view shapes my understanding of the society much better than the high level official missions that undertakes "diplomatic tourism" as equivalent to foreign policy experience.

Senator Barack Obama in my view has the judgement and knowledge to make wise foreign policy decisions because he understands the context in which our world is shaped.

God bless the Obama campaign and that of the other contenders from both political parties and the independent candidates.

Living in a foreign country at the age of 10, is no guarantee that someone will be prepared to face big international challenges. But it does provide insight and understanding in regard to different cultures and values, and the value of such an experience should not be underestimated. What direct qualifications, if any, does Hillary Clinton possess in this area ?

Sharply criticizing George Bush’s rush to start a war in Iraq, Nelson Mandela in January 2003 said Bush is as “a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, (who) is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.”

See http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/01/30/sprj.irq.mandela/index.html

Strangely, Bill and Hillary Clinton are close friends of Mandela. Yet by voting in favour of Bush’s resolution to pursue an irresponsible military strategy against Iraq, Mrs Clinton disregarded her one-in-a-million access to the wisdom of the greatest statesman of our generation.

Yet, she now claims that her personal acquaintance with world leaders is one of her positives.

Without many such acquaintances at that time, Barack Obama opposed this war even though it was unpopular to do so. This misguided war, and the bully tactics used by America for many decades on other countries, has left deep scars in foreign relations worldwide.

There can be no foreign relations experience that is more authentic than living overseas for a few years (especially in one’s elementary school years). Nothing real can be learned by meeting heads of state, and by going on scripted and rehearsed health clinic tours. Barack Obama has experienced the daily joys, sadness, beliefs, aspirations, and fears that ordinary Asians live with. Seeing the frail faces of some of his Kenyan relatives has surely marked his heart with tear-jerking yet clear-minded compassion for people in distant shores.

Could that perhaps not have been part of the initial reasoning behind deploying him to serve in the US Senate’s Foreign Relations committee, by the way?

His is just the kind of global leadership that the world needs right now, and in Obama, you have a one-in-a-generation candidate to usher it in.

HRC was the Treasury Secretary, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Interior, National Security Advisor, etc., in the Clinton administration... right? I mean where else could she have gotten all of this "applied" experience she's touting in the areas of the economy, environment, national security, etc. (I concede education because HRC has been a child and educational advocate for years)? Funny, if memory serves, the one area officially appointed to and controlled by HRC during the Clinton presidency was the healthcare issue and that was a disastorous failure. Is anyone else aware of some recess appointment or shadow position in the administration HRC held and if so, then she should disclose that information and be given proper credit or criticism for her performance during that tenure. Until then, will someone please explain why we're supposed to believe that 8 years of being a "First Lady" somehow allowed HRC to vicariously hold every major cabinet position in the Clinton administration? Give HRC due credit and respect for her years in the Senate and judge her accordingly on her votes and stated positions, but it insults the intelligence of anyone who can hear to suggest that she is somehow battle-tested and more experienced than others just because she lived in the White House and advised her spouse... like most spouses do everyday, everywhere.

Clinton got her degree on Foreign policy from?????

Let look at het senate record.

She voted what King Bush wanted for Foreign policy. Yes to Iraq war, Yes to blindly support Iraq war, Yes to ok Bush next Iran war.

Clinton got her degree from UNIVERISTY OF BUSH and DARTH VADER

Who stole Obama IDEA early in the campaign????

Obama NAIVE for his willingness to start diplomacy with problem countries. like IRAN. DO you remember that Hill. Calling Obama NAIVE for his policy.

The funniest part was a few months latter. Clinton said I will open diplomacy talks with Iran. LOL you launched a smear campaign attack on Obama for saying that.

Your voting record plus being a Flip flopper, and can not take a solid stand on any issue, you are no different then the incompetence that is in the Whitehouse.

CLINTON==BUSH==FAILED WHITE HOUSE

Biden Obama Edwards for 2009

It doesn't made any sense that someone can gain a foreign relation experience at 10 years. I think Dr. Sanjay Gupta can explain more detail what people can lear when they are 10

Exactly what experience is Hillary claiming to have? Since when does watching your husband perform a job count as experience? Hillary personally has never lead so much as a dog catchers office.

I'm starting to like Edwards. If nothing else, he's pretty funny.

It takes a lot of gall for either of these characters to attack the other because neither of them has much experience to speak of. Moreover, neither of them is electable by a population which is not yet ready to embrace a black man or white woman of such slim credentials as President.

Official tours give face time with other country leaders, but are not a good way to know the people. Obama has the right judgment for the new century because he has seen how the world is connected and meanwhile different. His family ties serves a good example of being connected and different.

We need leaders like Obama who could bridge the differences and get things done. What Hillary has are "attacks" and "fights." If Hillary is the nominee, she may win the general election, but she can not get things done.

I'm a Clinton supporter but on this one I have to agree with Obama. There is NOTHING like living abroad, at any age, to broaden one's perspective on other cultures, and also to understand one's OWN country. He should be very proud of this and should continue to tout it as a qualification. And it's a sign of provincialism to attack him over it.

Also – what candidates have foreign language abilities? Does Obama speak Bahasa? Dodd speaks Spanish, as does Richardson of course.

Can Clinton speak any foreign languages?

Oh, good grief! He was there in another country from the age of 6 till age 10?? And he calls this experience to deal with foreign countries?? We need Hillary, and we need her bad. She actually DOES have experience in foreigh countries.

To quote Joe Biden, "let's all get real here..."

Living abroad would be wonderful experience, if it was experienced for an extended period of time and at an age where one could really see, empathize, and interact with the population. As a 10 year old boy, although you will have memories of that experience, I doubt Barack ever mingled aimlessly, on his own, around town.

Clearly, traveling the world, interacting with people, and working with world leaders is a far greater level of experience - no offense to Barack Obama whom I like.

Hillary sent the message to Barack in a sarcastic fashion, which I don't like. But again, let's be real, both Edwards and Obama have been conducting some character assassination (questioning Hillary's character and integrity). Hillary's statement did not question Barack's character or integrity.

Clinton's lead starts to shrink in Iowa and NH, and we begin to see how truly wicked she can be...this is awesome seeing her so desperate!

Wonderful foreign policy preperation for Mr. Obama at his Islamic School. Most likely with the middle name Hussein he fit in quite well with the other Islamic children. Just what America needs is a president named Hussein.

The candidates claiming all the "experience" and strong credentials are the ones that voted with Bush to send our soldiers to die in Iraq. Their so-called experience is worthless since their judgement is so poor.

Clinton compounded her bad judgement by again voting with Bush to allow him to expand the war into Iran, if he chooses.

Clinton knowing leaders "personally" hasn't helped her judgement one iota.

Judgement counts. Experience gets you nowhere without it. How can any voter put someone into office who assisted Bush in killing our soldiers in a senseless war.

Are you kidding me? Living in Asia when you are 6 does not qualify you in foreign relations. I visited Paris last year, does that mean I'm an expert on French policy now? Hillary has had dinner with actual foreign politicians. I believe her experience is alot further than his. Even if you don't like Hillary, you cannot possibly defend Obama's answer.

Come on Obama! Although I like your honesty, this is something you should not said. It just put other to the attach mode. You could do better than that.

If anyone understands mudslinging that would be Edwards. He seems to have become a pro at it. I actually used to like this guy. I hate to say it but I'll be glad when the election is over so I (hopefully) don't have to hear from this guy on a regular basis.

Clinton will regret she said this. Because her "foreign experience" did not give her any wisdom about Iraq. Obama's innate intelligence about the catastrophic outcome in Iraq may be born in his childhood experience of living in a country that is different than ours. Perhaps we should require any President, before they take office, to live among the people of foreign nations. Perhaps it will help to stop another dumb war.

Will someone please tell John Edwards to just shut up and go away. No one invited him to the Clinton/Obama discussion on foreign policy experience. He has become a desparate, desparate candidate and it is not pretty.

I have to say that I agree with Clinton on this one. Although Biden's response is absolutely the best.

Note to Hillary: travelling to a foreign country with your husband, is not considered "foreign policy credentials."

Biden's hilarious. Edwards is a joke.