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Military experience qualifies McCain to be president?
While I am mystified by (though not surprised by) the misinterpretation of Wesley Clark's statements about McCain's military record, I am equally mystified by the idea that McCain's military record by itself qualifies him to be president.
McCain served in the Vietnam War, was held as a prisoner of war, then returned to the US in 1973. At the time he returned to the US, was he qualified to be president? He was certainly old enough (about 37 years old) and born a US citizen, and overall met the minimum qualifications under the US Constitution. But I don't think even his biggest supporters would say that he would have been a credible candidate for president in, say, 1976. (Or even in 1984, a few years after he retired from the Navy.) Clearly his experiences at war by themselves do not qualify him to be president.
Or what if McCain had retired from the Navy in 1981, moved to Arizona and then become a used-car salesman? Then in 2006, after 25 years of selling cars, he thought he would make a good president and decided to run for the 2008 Republican nomination. Even his staunchest supporters would acknowledge that that John McCain would not be a credible candidate this year, nor a credible president.
So it seems obvious that the entirety of McCain's experiences in the military, though they may be indicative of courage and inner strength, would not by themselves make McCain qualified to be president. Which is pretty much the statement that Wesley Clark made. So why the uproar?
Comments (1)
Well, if military experience is THE qualifying factor, I guess it's Lieut. Calley for President in 2012.
July 2, 2008 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
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