In honor of Obama’s appearance on O’Rielly, let’s enter the no spin zone. Obama has less foreign policy experience than Biden or McCain. He has worked across the aisle to secure loose nukes—a worthy cause and a proud accomplishment. But he has not drafted major foreign policy legislation (see McCain’s Detainee Treatment Act), nor has he led a committee charged with leading the Senate’s foreign policy debate.
Arguably, the value of experience in a Presidential election is data-based. McCain and Biden’s foreign policy experience forced them to take positions that now may be evaluated by the American people.
In that regard, Obama is no different. From whether to go to war in Iraq to how to interact with Pakistan to war strategy in Afghanistan, Obama has taken a position on every major foreign policy issue in the last six years. Based on these positions, Americans have the data to evaluate Obama’s judgment on foreign policy.
Now enter Sara Palin. As of March 2007, Palin admits, “I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq.” Until being named a Presidential candidate, she has never articulated a position on how she would treat Pakistan, contain Iran, prevent nuclear proliferation, or negotiate with North Korea. But she is getting a crash course to figure out what talking points she should read to AIPAC tomorrow.
-Law Dude
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1 comment:
Rather than data, I might call it "judgment" based ... and Obama clearly has the leg up on judgment vis-a-vis important decisions over the course of the last four years.
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