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Clark was Right about McCain’s Experience
Retired General Wesley Clark was on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, and he managed to stir up a great deal of bad ink for himself by saying that John McCain’s war record didn’t necessarily qualify him to be president of the US. The right screamed “treason!” and Senator Obama had to disavow what General Clark said. That is a pity because what he said was true. Moreover, the country needs to sit down and think just what would qualify a person to be the president.
For those who missed it, here’s the exchange in full (most press reports lack the full context) between the general and Bob Schieffer of CBS.
CLARK: He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn't a wartime squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when diplomats come in and say, ‘I don't know whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not, do you want to take the risk, what about your reputation, how do we handle this publicly?’ He hasn't made those calls, Bob.
SCHIEFFER: Can I just interrupt you? I have to say, Barack Obama hasn't had any of these experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down.
CLARK: I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.
And it doesn’t. Military service can provide executive experience (e.g., George Washington, Ike Eisenhower) but being a winning general doesn’t make one a winning president (e.g., Franklin Pierce, Ulysses S. Grant). Besides, in the military there is no such thing as negotiating – in politics there is little else. Does this belittle Mr. McCain’s military record? No, it merely means that his military service is not as relevant as the media and his campaign have claimed. Being a military success doesn’t make one an expert on global diplomacy and power (e.g., General Douglas MacArthur, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North).
In fact, there really isn’t much experience that is directly transferable to the job. If it were a corporate position, the HR rep would ask “What other countries have you run? Or give me an example of arm-twisting that helped sustain a veto you have previously made.” The very idea is laughable. Nothing can really prepare one for the presidency. Not five years in Hanoi, not a few years in the Illinois statehouse, not even the governorship of California, Texas or New York (none has a military). What it comes down to is whether the voter believes that the man or woman has the ability to lead (and to be followed), and comfort arises from episodes wherein the candidate behaved in a presidential fashion. The greater the longevity, the more such episodes arise. Military service can show courage, as it certainly did with Mr. McCain, but did it show judgment on the knife’s edge of war and peace? No.
© Copyright 2008 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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