<p>McCain makes fun of himself on the issue of being a POW. He jokes it was not hard to be shot down. Being shot down is not a qualification for president.</p>
<p>Leadership, however, is a qualification for president. McCain has that in quantity. What’s most telling is that he demonstrated it when no one was looking and it resulted in lasting physical damage and immediate pain. This quality, to me, is what I think America needs in a president.</p>
<p>Admitted cheap shot - Obama’s concept of leadership is paying off his student loans.</p>
<p>I do think Clark is a surrogate for Obama on the military issue, in the sense of “look I’ve got an officer too” kind of thing. I’d like to bash Obama (not physically of course!) as much as the next self-respecting republican, but everyone knows Clark is a whack job and his role with the campaign is very limited and specific. Now, were he to be named VP candidate that would be another story. Then he would be fair game and Obama would be responsible. I just see this as another manifestation of Clark’s all-around jerkishness. The one thing I will say, however, is that Wes Clark joins a long list of Obama supporters/connections who are problematic for the candidate and it does make one wonder where the candidate’s judgment is. I AM NOT AN OBAMA HATER so no one needs to accuse me of that, but if his decades-long record of personal/professional contacts is so clearly poor, why should his judgment in anything, particularly in choice of cabinet and other appointments be other than deeply worrisome? If this guy’s perception is so off, how can he be trusted with other world leaders, particularly those with adverse interests?</p>
<p>SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean –</p>
<p>CLARK: Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.</p>
<p>Clark is practicing a little sophistry though it didn’t come across well. He was ducking the question on experience and trying to put an accent on his own point to move on. Standard political fare on Sunday morning talkies.</p>
<p>I wished someone from McCains people would step up and say to Clark, he is correct being shot down doesn’t qualify him, but under duress he showed leadership by not jumping the line, that is the mark of a true leader and 1 with a lot of ethics, which is what we need. Someone stated a few months ago he did it for political purposes, which makes me laugh…I am sure he knew 30 yrs ago he was going to run for president and needed to have his legs broken and live in a box that is 5 x 5 for 5 yrs. Notice it is a box too short to stand up in and too short to lie down in.</p>
<p>I am betting Clarke wants a job in the Obama camp. Clarke was never a power house so Face the Nation could have booked a hundred other people, my guess Obama’s people sent him…if they did than it means there will be a job for Clark…Secretary of Defense maybe, or NSA</p>
<p>^^ I think that Wes Clark has done himself out of a job in an Obama administration. He was a Clinton supporter who was folded into the Obama campaign.
I don’t know if the Obama campaign sent him out, or he volunteered to give himself greater visibility, but he has just demonstrated he is an awful politician.</p>
<p>b&p: I agree that McCain showed character by refusing special treatment.</p>
<p>And knew he’d be beaten for NOT accepting release.</p>
<p>All the other prisoners knew it too.</p>
<hr>
<p>And that wasn’t all he did which demonstrated leadership as a POW. His youthful disdain for authority served him well - and contributed greatly to the morale of his fellow prisoners.</p>
<p>* The Navy recently released McCain’s military record—most of it citations for medals during his Navy career—after a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press.</p>
<p>McCain was awarded a Silver Star Medal for resisting “extreme mental and physical cruelties” inflicted upon him by his captors from late October to early December 1967, the early months of his captivity, according to the citation. The North Vietnamese, according to the Navy, ignored international agreements and tortured McCain “in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes.”</p>
<p>McCain, now the Republican Party’s likely presidential nominee, was taken prisoner in October 1967 after he was shot down while on a mission over Hanoi. He wasn’t freed until March 1973, after the United States signed peace agreements with the North Vietnamese. His captors tortured him and held him in solitary confinement. Still, he declined an offer of early release until those who had been at the prison longer than him were let go.</p>
<p>That decision earned McCain a Navy Commendation Medal. Although McCain was “crippled from serious and ill-treated injuries,” he steadfastly refused offers of freedom from those holding him prisoner. “His selfless action served as an example to others and his forthright refusal, by giving emphasis to the insidious nature of such releases, may have prevented a possibly chaotic deterioration in prisoner discipline,” the citation says. *</p>
<p>I agree with post #4. Often people erroneously come to the conclusion that Eisenhower (for example) qualified as presidential material because he was a military man. No, his candidacy was popular because he was a successful, proven military <em>leader</em>, on a grander scale than McCain. (The country was also in a pro-military mood at that point in our history; far less controversy/negativiity about the U.S. military in general, and expansion in particular.) </p>
<p>I don’t mean to trivialize (& I’m a military brat myself, & proud of it in my case), but “simply” (unfortunate word) being a POW, and/or being a mid-level military leader or less, does not rise to the stature, in itself, of presidential leadership. I believe that was WC’s point, even though, like marite & some others here, I am not a particular fan of WC.</p>
<p>McCain has actually had very little executive experience, and none for decades other than managing his own Senate staff. What Clark ran into was the fact that McCain’s experience as a POW makes it politically dangerous to say anything critical about him that relates to his military service at all. Even though Clark praised McCain for the elements of character that his captivity showed, he is accused of attacking McCain’s patriotism and military service when he points out the obvious fact that McCain’s military experiences don’t, in themselves, qualify him to be president.</p>
<p>“Looks like McCain already released his military records.”</p>
<p>Nope. SIX HUNDRED PAGES redacted. They provided a list of medals.</p>
<p>He refused to release it in 2000 as well (when I voted for him). What is he hiding? </p>
<p>I think it will show that, based on his record, the military had decided he wasn’t “leadership material”, he wasn’t going to rise any higher, he’d never become an admiral, and he resigned a week after his father died because he no longer had any fear that he’d disappoint. Of course, he could easily disprove all of this by releasing his record.</p>
<p>By choosing to speak about patriotism and saying that he does not questioning anyone’s patriotism, Obama is implicitly questioning McCain’s patriotism. He is also demanding that people not question his own patriotism - something he has invited by his close association with Rev. “God damn America” Wright, and Bill “acts of war against the US” Ayres. Isn’t Obama implying that it’s unpatriotic to question another’s patriotism, including his? If McCain gave a speech and said, “I’m not questioning anyone’s past associations”, wouldn’t that be viewed as a jab at Obama? Wouldn’t McCain be drawing attention to Obama’s past so as to diminish his opponents candidacy? Wouldn’t McCain, perhaps, be trying to deflect criticism of some of his past associations?</p>
<p>No, he is not. It is HIS patriotism that has been questioned over the lack of a flag lapel pin and his childhood in Indonesia, his middle name, and whatever can be used to denigrate it. He is saying that NO ONE should question the patriotism of other Americans and that patriotism can take different forms.</p>
<p>Mini, you obviously have no understanding on how the military works.</p>
<p>First, of course the pages are redacted…it is classified information…do you have a security clearance? He does not get to choose what is redacted…DOD has that authority!</p>
<p>Second, he retired as a Captain, the equivalent of Colonel. Statistically the chance of making full bird is less than 1 in 10, only @25 out of hundred make 0-5 and only 40% of them make O-6. </p>
<p>Third, you just don’t walk in 1 day and say I quit, there is a very long protocol procedure to retiring, that requires multiple outbriefings with finance, VA, mandatory transition briefings, etc. it takes months, most guys put in their papers @ 1 yr prior to retirement. In McCains case I would assume his medical/VA out briefing was very intense, since he is considered a disabled vet, which requires a lot more physicals. </p>
<p>The only way you get out in one week is if you are relieved of your job for a very bad reason and typically a court martial is involved.</p>
<p>Bullet is military and I am sure his missions will be redacted for forever, they are classified top-secret, there is a reason for that, which you, I and the avg Joe on the street are not priviledged to view. He will never run for President and have any way to use his position to keep them Redacted, so please don’t go and say McCain is using his power to hide it.</p>
<p>“However, do you really think a number of media sources would qualify Clark as a “surrogate” or “backer” of Obama if he were not conspicuously connected to Obama’s campaign?”</p>
<p>Sure they would. Why? Because that makes the story better. They want drama and controversy. Gen. John Doe (ret.) making comments about McCain = boring. Obama making comments about McCain = news.</p>
<p>Look – here we are on Tuesday discussing something that happened on the show two days ago. That’s the gold standard for a successful Sunday morning show. They are not above exaggerating someone’s credentials to make this happen.</p>
<p>The beauty of this country is the freedom of speech, if people want to question it, it is their right. It is also anyone’s right to defend that question.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>McCain did come after Ayers, but not Obama, b/c Obama’s people tried to compared an MOC with Ayers. All McCain stated was it is not fair to compare an MOC who volunteers his medical experience to help lives with a man who still has no remorse about what he did.</p>
<p>McCain supporters aren’t worried, or at least I am not. I have stated over and over again that I believe the real power exists on the Hill. However, I am with McCain supporters who question Obama’s judgement to be associated so closely with these people. These associations alone mean nothing to me, but add in his belief that we should invite Ahlmindejad to the WH for a sit down or Chavez or Kim Il Jung, makes me question his judgement. I would love to live in Utopia where we all get along, but that is naive, and giving Wright the benefit of the doubt, or saying it was bonehead move inre to Rezko (sp?) does not make me feel warm and fuzzy, it actually makes me a little nervous.</p>
<p>How many times will he have to come out on stage and say Yep, it was a mistake I see that now, but… make a mistake with his life I couldn’t care, make a mistake with mine and now I have a bone in the fight.</p>
<p>Finally, the media, all of them…print or television say that McCains problem is he gives too much time to them (media travels on the plane with both of the candidates)…he is known to just yak it up with them, which off the cuff remarks can hurt. The same media has stated Obama does not talk to them and if he goes to the back of the plane to talk to them it is for a few minutes to pacify. Let’s remember Obama sent the media to Chicago, they all thought he was on the plane, to only find out he ditched them and stayed back in DC to meet Hillary. Now who is really playing the typical politician the guy who talks with the media, where they think OMG you can hurt yourself, or the guy who purposely ditches them?</p>
<p>Finally when Obama and McCain addressed the journalist association. The journalists brought in Dunkin Donuts for McCain (his favorite or so they report). The crowd gave him a standing O. When Obama spoke a few hrs later, there were no standing O’s or anything of Obama’s favorites.</p>
<p>Is Obama the media favorite of course he is, but that is because the people who buy the papers want him, it does not mean that the journalists themselves prefer him more.</p>
<p>I think it’s Clark, himself, who puts himself out there as being close to Obama. I don’t believe that, but it certainly appears that Clark wants him some of that reflected glory.</p>