Foreign Policy Experience – Does It Matter?
One of the things that’s been bothering me about this presidential campaign is the constant droning of so and so doesn’t have any foreign policy experience. Where is it written that a presidential candidate has to have “foreign policy experience”?
How much foreign policy experience did Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush have when they took office? Not to be flippant but I think it’s safe to say a hell of a lot less than when they left. Personally, I’m not particularly swayed by the experience argument; I’m much more concerned with a candidate’s position on the issues and their ability to make the tough choices.
A president has to be a leader and a visionary. He or she has have intelligence to understand and evaluate the information their advisers provide and the courage to act on it.
Yes, a candidates background matters but it’s only one part of the overall picture. We also need to examine the backgrounds and qualifications of the people a candidate turns to for advice on issues whether it’s foreign policy, the economy, defense or immigration.
The cold hard truth is we live in a complicated world and we can’t expect president to be an expert in all things, if we do we’re only deluding ourselves.
It’s Palin… Hot Damn!
I’ve have to admit I’m stoked!
Yes I still have reservations about John McCain, I don’t like him, I don’t trust him but Sarah Palin is the real deal. She’s a solid conservative; she’s intelligent, articulate and charismatic. She has a proven record as a reformer; she’s battled corruption and pork barrel spending and she has more executive experience than most people realize. She started her political career in 1992 by running for and winning a seat on the Wasilla, Alaska city council. After two terms on the city council she ran mayor in 1996 and served as mayor of Wasilla until 2002. She was also elected as President of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. She was appointed Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2003 and resigned in 2004 in protest over what she called the “lack of ethics” of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest. She was elected as Governor of Alaska in 2006.
The New York Sun has more here & here.
Update: Breitbart TV has video of her acceptance speech here.
As an aside, with all due respect to Barack Obama and his campaign there are a hell of a lot of small towns in America… They are the heart and soul of this country - Try to remember that.
In case you missed it this is what Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.
“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.”
McCain VP Watch… Who’s It Going To Be?
My top picks in no particular order:
- Fred Thompson
- Michael Steele
- Sarah Palin
- Carly Fiorina
Update: Foxnews says it’s Palin.
Whew… I’m not sure what to say.
Personally, I would have preferred Michael Steele or Fred Thompson… That said Palin’s a great choice, grass roots conservatives are energized/excited by it, inside the beltway “conservatives” who are confounded by it, the media weenies who were pushing Lieberman are apoplectic over it and demorcrats are whining. All in all I don’t think McCain could have made a better choice, Palin has solid conservative credentials, she’s intelligent, articulate and attractive. She should help McCain win over grass roots conservatives who don’t like or trust him.
Computer Crime…
Here an interesting video from Mikko Hyppönen at F-Secure that talks about one of the common misconceptions about computer crime and viruses. A lot of people think that since we haven’t had a major virus outbreak like the Melissa or Sasser worms in quite awhile the situation is getting better… As Mikko points out it’s not, it’s getting worse.
The Value of Service…
Via Blackfive:
The Value of Service
Commentary by Lt. Col. Mark Murphy
354th Maintenance Group deputy commanderEIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska — I learned a big lesson on service Aug. 4, 2008, when Eielson had the rare honor of hosting President Bush on a refueling stop as he traveled to Asia .
It was an event Eielson will never forget — a hangar full of Airmen and Soldiers getting to see the Commander in Chief up close, and perhaps even shaking his hand. An incredible amount of effort goes into presidential travel because of all of the logistics, security, protocol, etc … so it was remarkable to see Air Force One land at Eielson on time at precisely 4:30 p.m.–however, when he left less than two hours later, the President was 15 minutes behind schedule.
That’s a big slip for something so tightly choreographed, but very few people know why it happened. Here’s why.
On Dec. 10, 2006, our son, Shawn, was a paratrooper deployed on the outskirts of Baghdad . He was supposed to spend the night in camp, but when a fellow soldier became ill Shawn volunteered to take his place on a nighttime patrol–in the convoy’s most exposed position as turret gunner in the lead Humvee. He was killed instantly with two other soldiers when an IED ripped through their vehicle.
I was thinking about that as my family and I sat in the audience listening to the President’s speech, looking at the turret on the up-armored Humvee the explosive ordnance disposal flight had put at the edge of the stage as a static display.
When the speech was over and the President was working the crowd line, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see a White House staff member. She asked me and my wife to come with her, because the President wanted to meet us.
Stunned, we grabbed our two sons that were with us and followed her back into a conference room. It was a shock to go from a crowded, noisy hangar, past all of those security people, to find ourselves suddenly alone in a quiet room. Read the rest…
What are your impressions of the DNCC so far?
What are your impressions of the Democratic National Committee Convention so far?
Mine can be summed up in one word… YAWN.
It’s 2004 all over again… There are no ideas, no positive agenda and no vision for the future. So far their entire agenda can be summed up as we’re miserable, Bush sucks and John McCain is just Bush 3.0.
Well, I’m not misserable, George W. Bush is not running for re-election and John McCain is no George W. Bush. If that’s all you’ve got I’m going to put my feet up and dive into Kathy Reichs’ latest novel “Devil Bones”.
Peace, Out. 
LPGA To Require English For International Players…
A lot has already been written about this so I’ll keep my remarks short… I agree wholeheartedly with the LPGA’s decision. English is the dominate language in this country and if you want to succeed in business you have to be able to speak the language. Make no mistake about it professional golf is a business and there is a staggering amount of money involved. Players are required to interact with sponsors, journalists, fans and tournament volunteers and officials and a single common language will make life much easier for all involved.
Golf-LPGA players told they must speak English from 2009
LONDON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - The world’s top women golfers will be required to speak English from 2009 under new rules introduced by the LPGA Tour.
“We’re focusing on the fact that we’re in the sports entertainment business and we have to interact with fans and sponsors,” LPGA deputy commissioner Libba Galloway told the USA Today website (www.usatoday.com).
“This is not meant to be punitive in any way. There are very few players who don’t speak English.
“We don’t think suspensions will happen but if they do we’re not going to say, ‘Boom, go home and try again next year’,” she added. “We’ll work with them on identifying areas for improvement.”
There are 121 international players from 26 countries on the United States-based LPGA Tour, including 45 from South Korea alone. Read the rest…
Michael Totten: The Truth About Russia in Georgia
I linked to this previously but Michael Totten’s “The Truth About Russia in Georgia” is the most comprehensive report I’ve seen on the conflict - it’s a must read for anyone who wants to know what really happened - and it deserves much greater prominence than I gave it earlier.
The Truth About Russia in Georgia
By Michael J. Totten, August 26, 2008
TBILISI, GEORGIA - Virtually everyone believes Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili foolishly provoked a Russian invasion on August 7, 2008, when he sent troops into the breakaway district of South Ossetia. “The warfare began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched a barrage targeting South Ossetia,” the Associated Press reported over the weekend in typical fashion.
Virtually everyone is wrong. Georgia didn’t start it on August 7, nor on any other date. The South Ossetian militia started it on August 6 when its fighters fired on Georgian peacekeepers and Georgian villages with weapons banned by the agreement hammered out between the two sides in 1994. At the same time, the Russian military sent its invasion force bearing down on Georgia from the north side of the Caucasus Mountains on the Russian side of the border through the Roki tunnel and into Georgia. This happened before
Saakashvili sent additional troops to South Ossetia and allegedly started the war.
Russian Aggression
If you haven’t read the Op-Ed by by Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman in today’s Wall Street Journal you should. I don’t agree with Graham or Lieberman often but they’re spot-on here.
Russia’s Aggression Is a Challenge to World Order
By Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2008; Page A21In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Georgia, the United States and its trans-Atlantic allies have rightly focused on two urgent and immediate tasks: getting Russian soldiers out, and humanitarian aid in.
But having just returned from Georgia, Ukraine and Poland, where we met with leaders of these countries, we believe it is imperative for the West to look beyond the day-to-day management of this crisis. The longer-term strategic consequences, some of which are already being felt far beyond the Caucasus, have to be addressed.
Russia’s aggression is not just a threat to a tiny democracy on the edge of Europe. It is a challenge to the political order and values at the heart of the continent. Read the rest…
A couple of other must reads:
First is Bret Stephens Global View column also in today’s Wall Street Journal:
Russia Is Dangerous But Weak
By Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2008; Page A19‘In Russia,” wrote the great scholar of Russian imperialism Dietrich Geyer many years ago, “expansion was an expression of economic weakness, not exuberant strength.”
Keep this observation in mind as Vladimir Putin and his minions bask in the glow of Western magazine cover stories about Russia’s “resurgence” following its splendid little war against plucky little Georgia. The Kremlin is certainly confident these days, buoyed by years of rising commodity prices and a bullying foreign policy that mistakes fear for respect — the very combination that made the Soviet Union seem invincible in the 1970s.
But the Soviet Union wasn’t invincible. And here’s a crazy thought: The same laws of social, economic and geopolitical gravity that applied in Brezhnev’s U.S.S.R. apply equally in Mr. Putin’s KGB state. Read the rest…
The Second is J.R. Dunn’s “Rollback Russian Expansionism” at Americanthinker.com
Rollback Russian Expansionism
By J.R. Dunn, American Thinker.com, August 26, 2008The only thing novel about the humiliation of Georgia is that the entity that carried it out is called “Russia” instead of the “Soviet Union”.
It has happened many times before. In Czechoslovakia in 1948. In Berlin the same year. In Poland and East Germany in 1953. In Hungary in 1956. In Czechoslovakia again in 1968. In Afghanistan in 1979.
We have a lot of experience in dealing with this kind of outlaw behavior. We know what works and what does not. There is no mystery here, and no secrets. To learn how to deal with a newly belligerent Russia, we need only look at the Cold War. Read the rest…
Update: Don’t miss the must read of all must reads… Michael Totten’s “The Truth About Russia in Georgia”.
TBILISI, GEORGIA – Virtually everyone believes Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili foolishly provoked a Russian invasion on August 7, 2008, when he sent troops into the breakaway district of South Ossetia. “The warfare began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched a barrage targeting South Ossetia,” the Associated Press reported over the weekend in typical fashion.
Virtually everyone is wrong. Georgia didn’t start it on August 7, nor on any other date. The South Ossetian militia started it on August 6 when its fighters fired on Georgian peacekeepers and Georgian villages with weapons banned by the agreement hammered out between the two sides in 1994. At the same time, the Russian military sent its invasion force bearing down on Georgia from the north side of the Caucasus Mountains on the Russian side of the border through the Roki tunnel and into Georgia. This happened before Saakashvili sent additional troops to South Ossetia and allegedly started the war. Read the rest…
Let The Games Begin…
The Democratic National Convention kicked of in Denver last night… All I can think to say is so what? In all honesty I’m more interested in what’s happening in Georgia than I am with what’s happening in Denver. If last night was any indication this convention is going to be about the cult of personality and style not substance or issues.
Talking about change is all well and good but if you can’t or won’t talk about the substance of your policy ideas it’s just empty rhetoric. We live in dangerous times and we need to know that our next president understands the world we live in and is ready, willing and able confront islamofacist terrorist organizations, their state sponsors and an increasingly belligerent Russia in addition to domestic policy issues like immigration and energy independence.
So far I haven’t heard a thing that makes believe that Barack Obama and Joe Biden are up to the challenge.