Clinton’s Dig at Obama’s Credentials is Misguided

Hillary Clinton remains the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, or so the American media keep saying. The fact is no one has cast a vote yet, so it’s hard to argue that she’s even ahead of Dennis Kucinich. However, she’s trying to put some space between her and Senator Barrack Obama on the grounds that she has greater experience, and especially in foreign policy. The fact is that she doesn’t have more experience at all; hers is of a different, and one might argue, inferior variety.

Mrs. Clinton said, “Now voters will judge whether living in a foreign country at the age of 10 prepares one to face the big, complex international challenges the next president will face.” Well, the junior senator from New York should know better. The fact of the matter is that Barrack Obama used to live in Indonesia, and that makes him an expert on what it’s like to be a regular guy in a place like Indonesia.

For her part, Mrs. Clinton stated, “I think we need a president with more experience than that -- someone the rest of the world knows, looks up to and has confidence in. She added she had “traveled the world on behalf of our country -- first in the White House with my husband and now as a senator. I’ve met with countless world leaders and know many of them personally.”

Mr. Obama riposted, “I was wondering which world leader told her that we needed to invade Iraq, because that is the conventional thinking that we're going to have to break.” Witty, but Mrs. Clinton’s contacts are important. Then again, staying at the Hilton in Tokyo doesn’t give one a sense of Japanese life anymore than going to Benihana’s for dinner does. Repairing America’s image abroad will require a great deal of empathy and understanding of the common people around the world. Knowing the defense minister of Uzbekistan doesn’t quite count for as much.

Mrs. Clinton is right in noting the differences among the candidates, and it isn’t mud-slinging to point to the very brief time Mr. Obama has served in the Senate. Experience does matter, and frankly, Bill Richardson has more than Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama combined. Mrs. Clinton would do better to take on the youngish man from Illinois on other grounds because in foreign policy, he has a unique perspective that none of his rivals can match.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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