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Experience Matters in a President. Just Ask John Adams.
The Founding Fathers would disagree with Gen. Wesley Clark.
“I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” retired Gen. Wesley Clark said of Sen. John McCain’s five-years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. Clark, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, recently slammed McCain’s experience and qualifications to be commander-in-chief.
Although Obama distanced himself from Clark’s remarks and praised McCain’s sacrifice, Clark stood by his statement. This strategy allows Obama to be the good guy while his surrogates attack.
Founding Father John Adams would be puzzled by Clark’s comments. He understood the supreme importance of electing a commander-in-chief with battlefield experience. That is why he nominated George Washington for the job in 1775. And he did so at the risk of his friendship with his less experienced buddy, Col. John Hancock.
The colonies were at war, locked-down in Boston. America’s mishmash militia surrounded Boston’s countryside but were unable to drive the British out of town. They needed a leader with experience. As he stood before the Continental Congress in 1775, Adams cited Washington’s experience as a primary reason he should be commander-in-chief.
Adams chose Washington over his pal, John Hancock, who expected Adams to nominate him. After all Hancock was from Boston, the hotspot of the moment. He was also the charismatic leader of the Sons of Liberty. Hancock was a more logical choice to direct a Yankee army than a Southerner like Washington. But there was a key difference. Although he was a colonel, Hancock had never served in battle while Washington had.
Washington was one of only 30 soldiers from Virginia to survive a fierce battle in an earlier war. Washington knew the military backwards and forwards. He had been a surveyor, a leader of Virginia’s border control and a military diplomat. Washington had also served in Virginia’s legislative body the House of Burgess. He brought an abundance of hard-knocks experience to the job of commander-in-chief.
Experience matters today. America is at war. McCain is the only candidate with direct experience in the U.S. military, something that cannot be ignored. His foreign policy experience was particularly evident when Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last December. It was McCain, not Obama, who gave the fastest, most thorough response. The reason for such speed? His experience.
“If I were president of the United States, I would be on the phone right now, and I would be meeting with the National Security Council, and I would be seeing ways that we could restore order, or maintain order, or restore order, whichever is the case in Pakistan. I know the players, I know the individuals, and I know the best way to address this situation,” he said, after first expressing his condolences over Bhutto’s death.
Contrasting that was the short 60-word statement Barack Obama initially issued. “She was a respected and resilient advocate for the democratic aspirations of the Pakistani people,” he said. His response was highly appropriate, but not based on many years of foreign policy debates on the Hill. He gave a more thought-out response the next day but it didn’t equal McCain’s initial framing of the issue.
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Jane Hampton Cook is the author of Stories of Faith and Courage From The Revolutionary War, a 365-day digest with personal writings from about 20 key players in the Revolutionary War. She is a former webmaster to President George W. Bush. Ms. Cook resides in Vienna, Va.
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19 Comments
1. Jbl:First Obama intrigued me, then he puzzled me, now he just annoys me.
Jul 4, 2008 - 5:02 am 2. Roark:John Adams was truly indeed one of America’s greatest presidents. I highly recommend reading “John Adams: America’s Greatest Founding Father” by C. Bradley Thompson
Jul 4, 2008 - 7:31 am 3. Roark:and “John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty” by C. Bradley Thompson.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY USA ! ! !
Jul 4, 2008 - 7:36 am 4. Jerry Green:You’re serious? You equate John McCain’s heroic failure in Vietnam with George Washington’s distinguished, military and diplomatic career in his several major campaigns leading several militias and armies through failure and success prior to his nomination to the Presidency? Washington…probably the most prominent farmer, citizen and landowner in his colony. Washington, who had led armies in campaigns…exercised major diplomacy, allying with the Indians of the areas…was a Colonel and a General, writing strategies and executing them against the French first and then the British, who led Virginia’s Militias? McCain was born into military royalty, became a pilot and got shot down. I can understand favoring McCain’s conservatism over Obama’s liberalism, but get your rationales right. You smear our country’s birth by comparing McCain with George Washington.
Jul 4, 2008 - 8:50 am 5. Kimba:To equate McCain’s military experience to Washington is an outrage. Washington was the Commander of our forces, McCain flew a plane.
If one were to equate a modern day political personality to washington, one has only to look to Wesley Clark, who does have those kind of credentials, albeit in a much smaller way in comparison.
And in raising Adams perception of universal character, McCain fails again, as any member of the Keating Five would.
John McCain flew planes in the military. He has shown less ability to unite America than anyone else. Please remember while praising Adams, one must remember than it was he who was able to bring France on our side, a critical turn in our history. Could McCain do this, or would Obama be a better choice for the diplomatic task?
Ms. Cook’s assumption that the founding fathers would disagree with Clark is unfounded. They would no more elect a cannon operator to the office of President than todays American voting populous should consider a tempermental airplane pilot to be President today.
Jul 4, 2008 - 9:21 am 6. TomJW:I believe Washington’s forays into the military included some disasters during the French and Indian War. The surrender of a fort (Fort Prudence I believe), the covering of the retreat of the British army. Also, he was easily outflanked at the Battle of Long Island and Bradywine Creek. The situation in New York City couldn’t have been won by any outnumbered army without a fleet though.
In attack, Washington was thouroughly ruthless and very successful.
At the time of his nomination to head the Continental Army, only his French and Indian War experience counted.
McCain would be a wait and see if his determination to win equals Bushes, he will have plenty of people to do the detail work. I do think that attitude toward the military is important and that B Hussein would be more antagonistic, as Clinton was.
Jul 4, 2008 - 9:31 am 7. minuteman 76:We’re right about Clark:
Read about McCain’s maverick reputation from a retired NAVY COMMANDER who served with him as a FELLOW POW at the Hanoi Hilton.
Just have a look at military.com
and search Phillip Butler’s story for when he served with John McCain as a POW in Hanoi…. Butler was a POW for 8 years!!!
It would make a great testimonial for the McCain campaign…..
http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164859_1,00.html
Jul 4, 2008 - 9:47 am 8. Taking Another Look At Obama « Tai-Chi Policy:[...] those he supposedly cares about as soon as they’re no longer policitally advantageous), experience does matter (of which he has little), and the people that support him around the world are all the wrong [...]
Jul 4, 2008 - 10:58 am 9. Olivia:Kimba and Jerry Green are making much ado about nothing. The point of the article was that experience matters hence the title and the long exposition on a John Adams formula.
And Minuteman76 Phillip Butler’s argument is pretty unconvincing. He’s now a peace and justice activist and likely wouldn’t vote for any Republican. And his whole “No-John McCain was a POW with me” and all the petty points that follow tell me Butler bears a grudge.
Regardless there are many reasons to vote McCain. And there are even more to not vote for the community organizer.
Jul 4, 2008 - 11:00 am 10. keithacita:i’m voting for the junior senator from california barbara boxer for president. she’s got that rare combination of experience and judgment, unlike some other democratic candidates who claim they do.
Jul 4, 2008 - 1:23 pm 11. Lee:It’s outrageous how the liberal democratic bloggers are trying belittle and discredit a patriot like John McCain. The main point regarding John McCain’s military service goes to CHARACTER. Admirable character is when a POW, surviving in miserable conditions, chooses to remain in prison additional years, because an early release wouldn’t be fair to his fellow prisoners. I know that Wesley Clark, Obama, and these criticizing bloggers wouldn’t have the heart to do it … they can’t even recognize the importance of such an honorable commitment… even though their very freedom of speech, to complain on this blog, was won and protected by the same people with the courage to walk the walk … not just talk the talk!
Jul 4, 2008 - 1:51 pm 12. Kimba:Lee, let me set the record straight for you….
In 1970, Army Capt. Wes Clark was commanding the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry, of the 1st Infantry Division (”the Big Red One”), when a Viet Cong soldier shot him four times. Though seriously wounded, he ordered his men to fight back, and they won the skirmish. Clark was hospitalized and awarded a Silver Star. Is that enough character for you? Clark has been in actual command of troops. McCain flew a plane. No formal command experience, which is our point.
Now let’s look at McCain’s character. He was accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB). His fellow Senators voted to censure him for questionable conduct stemming from his contact with the lead investigator asking him to back off.
It turned out that McCain received $112,000 by 1987 from Keating and Keating’s relatives and employees to McCain’s Senate campaign, more than any of the other Senators. McCain’s wife and her father had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. The paper also reported that the McCains, sometimes accompanied by their daughter and baby-sitter, had made at least nine trips at Keating’s expense, sometimes aboard the American Continental Corporation (parent of Lincoln) jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating’s opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay. McCain also did not pay Keating for some of the trips until years after they were taken, after he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln. Lincoln Savings and Loan’s collapse is said to have cost taxpayers $3.4 billion.
Jul 4, 2008 - 3:51 pm 13. Dave Surls:Need I say more about CHARACTER?
Want to know more about the skeletons in McCain’s closet?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain_lobbyist_controversy
“In 1970, Army Capt. Wes Clark was commanding the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry, of the 1st Infantry Division (”the Big Red One”), when a Viet Cong soldier shot him four times. Though seriously wounded, he ordered his men to fight back, and they won the skirmish. Clark was hospitalized and awarded a Silver Star. Is that enough character for you?”
It’s enough character for me. I just don’t like Clark’s politics.
Jul 4, 2008 - 6:01 pm 14. james wilson:John Adams was a great man, not a great President. There were reasons he was to be the only one-termer until his son.
Jul 5, 2008 - 8:21 am 15. Jerry Green:Under Adams, two-thirds of federal expenditures were to pay off Muslim extremist. His successor fixed that pronto.
You’re right James Wilson, but Washington was still the right choice. The choice was based on character (lacking in McCain as illustrated by the Keating affair and sliding positions on all the major issues), experience (the Admiral’s son was given a plane and he crashed it), and Adams’ (and a bunch of other people’s, I might add) educated judgment that Washington was the right guy. And I’m not exactly sure what makes McCain a patriot…as he is described vehemently by Lee above. Again, a heroically failing airplane flight? The fact that he was in the Hanoi Hilton? And what would make one a non-patriot? That he wasn’t shot down? That he wasn’t in the Hanoi Hilton? One cannot, with honest evaluation, begin to compare the reasons for nominating Washington with reasons for nominating McCain. And then to attack the heroic Wesley Clark for calling into question McCain’s allegedly heroic experience as not necessarily making him fit for the job of US President…. If you are for McCain, stick with Conservative vs. Liberal, or you’re gonna’ lose.
Jul 6, 2008 - 8:33 am 16. Bobby Mcgill:Washington also had the most king-like qualities, which made sense for a good transition for people so recently under royal rule, moving on to democracy. After marrying into Martha’s money, Washington was one of the largest landowners in the fledgling country and his well awe-inspiring leadership at war bestowed upon him that royal aura that would play well with the newly governed.
This whole concept of experience being important for a president seems well ordered on its surface.
Since you went to the ludicrous extent to compare McCain to someone the likes of Washington, why not use the illustration of a surgeon or a mailman operating on you? Or a mechanic or a toddler working on your car?
Experience is actually a small issue for either men, consider their stations in life. The president going into office is the great unknown and the problems that will confront him and how he will respond are just the same. Character and experience, could all be a wash, giving way to the man in the moment.
At this level of the game, both Obama and McCain are well accomplished, intelligent men and equally qualified for office. To look for some magic mark or some tangible quality of either, in the hopes that it will shed light into how they will actually perform once in the office, is fool’s play.
But it makes for good reading… I at least thank you for that.
Jul 8, 2008 - 5:55 am 17. Brenda:Obama has the skinniest resume of anyone who has ever run for President. Neither he nor his people have and right to be a critic of McCain.
Jul 8, 2008 - 9:33 pm 18. Tim:Great article, point well made. Wesley Clark’s dumb comment about McCain “riding a jet” is hardly descriptive of the actual experience of “piloting a combat mission” from the pitching deck of an aircraft carrier laden with bombs and missiles.
Jul 9, 2008 - 6:25 am 19. Hal:McCain is a Hero, Gen. Clark has sadly become a political hack.
I don’t think Obama’s resume is the skinniest. Abraham Lincoln’s was thinner. He did alright. “Experience” is not a winning argument I think.
Jul 9, 2008 - 11:00 pm