Reply To: Political Statements
does not clear them of the fact that they would have killed innocents if they could have.
Agreed, it doesn’t. I guess the point I meant to make is that I’m more willing to forgive someone for associating with a failed terrorist. I’m mostly discussing this in the context of Obama’s presumed guilt by association. If Ayers had actually, say, killed 3000 people, Obama probably wouldn’t be associating with him, if only because he’d still be in prison.
just because I’m good friends with some evangelical jesus types and am willing to hear them out doesn’t mean I’m one of them.
Being good friends with them isn’t the same as spending twenty years attending their church. There’s a difference between a good friend and a spiritual advisor.
A law background is a good basis for someone who will be making laws- but that is not the job of the president.
The president is expected both to enforce the laws and to follow them, and we’ve been having problems with both lately. A law background isn’t as useful there as it is for members of Congress, for whom it’s highly useful, or federal judges, for whom it’s effectively required, but it’s still useful. Taft probably had the strongest law background of any president.
Former officers and senior NCO’s who have also had to make decisions that could effect the lives of many people are also good qualities to have in a future president. What has Obama run?
McCain is also a senator, and while he’s a former officer, it’s worth noting that he was a fighter pilot, which itself isn’t really a leadership position. After the war he was apparently commander of a training squadron, which AFAIK is the extent of his administrative experience.
As you noted, JoAnn, governors running for president emphasize their administrative experience, which is useful when the economy is in rough shape, as in 1992 when Clinton won, and their Beltway outsider status, which is useful in the aftermath of Washington political scandals, as in 1976 when Carter won, whereas senators emphasize their foreign policy experience, which is useful during international crises, as in… 1960, when Kennedy won. Wow, I hadn’t realized that it had been so long since a sitting senator won a presidential election. I guess that’s going to change one way or another.
I’m curious. Has a former senior NCO ever been elected president? We’ve had plenty of officers over the years.
ETA:
using violence as a primary tool for political change is definitely reprehensible.
Some of the suburbs around here weren’t always so quiet.