War and Politics

Hi - well, now that the presidential campaign is really starting to heat up, I'd like to take a moment to talk about Wesley Clark's recent comments about whether John McCain has the relevant experience to be president. By now, you've probably heard something along the lines of how Wes Clark supposedly impugned McCain's military service or somehow dishonored John McCain's war record.

I've attached a link to a clip of the actual interview here. You'll note that Clark is in the process of talking about how McCain's experience doesn't mean he has executive experience, and it is Bob Schieffer of CBS who questions Clark's assertions by saying "wait a minute, Barack Obama hasn't ridden in a plane and been shot down". Clark replied that in itself doesn't qualify McCain to be president.

So I'm wondering - why is that so horrible of Clark to say? Clark is not putting McCain's service down; to the contrary, he goes out of his way to praise it elsewhere in the interview. But it is fair to engage in a discussion about whether it qualifies McCain to be president, especially when someone else brings up the point.

Cheers.