Author: Mathew Mikuni
The stratospheric rise of Sarah Palin has definitely shaken up the current race. Among other things, it has led to the resurrection of the charge of “inexperience,” except for this time, the roles have switched. Now it’s the Democrats attacking the bottom of the Republican ticket for not being “experienced” enough (while glossing over the top of theirs). McCain still claims that his “experience” has prepared him for the Presidency, but what does that even mean?
Abraham Lincoln, who only served two years in the federal government, won the Civil War, ended slavery in the United States, and became one of the greatest presidents in our history. James Buchanan, with 29 combined years of experience, is widely considered to be one of the worst United States presidents in history for doing absolutely nothing, except maybe encouraging the secessionist tides that were rising in the South that ultimately led to the Civil War.
Supporters of Palin point to her eight years of “executive experience” as mayor and governor as proof that she is ready to step in as president if need be. We only need to look to the current president (six years as governor of Texas), with his poor choice of advisers (namely Rumsfeld), failure to control the damaging turf wars between the State and Defense Department, response to Hurricane Katrina, etc. (you could fill the whole paper with this stuff), to see that “executive experience” doesn’t necessarily result in good governance.
Biden, lauded for his foreign policy experience, was an opponent of the first Gulf War, a supporter of the Iraq war and an opponent of the surge. He also authored a senate amendment that called for the partition (he calls it a “confederation”) of Iraq divided under ethnic and sectarian lines. He was actually able to unite Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish leader . . .in universal condemnation of his plan. They were obviously furious about Biden’s advocacy of a shift in U.S. strategy that would have had American troops kicking Iraqi families from their homes and relocating them to different parts of the country against their will. McCain’s own foreign policy expertise didn’t help him in early 2003 when he praised President Bush’s handling of the Iraq war and predicted, obviously incorrectly, that the war was close to its conclusion.
However, “experience” is not so easily separated from “judgment.” It can be argued that McCain’s extensive experience in foreign affairs resulted in his early support for a change of strategy in Iraq, as well as the “surge” of additional American troops, which even Obama has said “succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.” In response to the recent Russia/Georgia conflict, McCain immediately called for Russia to unilaterally cease its invasion, while it took Obama three days to come to the same conclusion.
Look beyond the labels and campaign slogans. Think of the issues most important to you and research where the candidates stand. Don’t vote for one candidate because he says that he puts his “country first” or another candidate because your friend told you “he’s so cool!” (something I actually heard). I think we owe it to all the people who have fought and died for this country, to do better than that.
Mathew Mikuni is a senior DWA and Asian Studies major. He can be reached at mmikuni@oxy.edu.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
