I'm not sure your analogy holds, Bullspotter.

Corporations in trouble still seek someone with experience, even if it's of a different sort. They don't seek someone INexperienced.

While one could easily argue that McCain has the wrong type of experience (too tied to Washington, blah, blah), it's harder to rebut a charge of inexperience, as Obama must for many voters. It's hard because he's young, and so has to convince people that he's somehow crammed into those years a certain quality of experience. I'm sure Obama believes this (one, after all, does not run for President without at least a little megalomania), but he must convince others of it.

Bill Clinton could point to his years as governor to rebut the "too young" charge. JFK, awful president though he was, could point to his military experience, and so on...