July 1, 2008
What Wesley Clark did - and didn't - say
Gen. Wesley Clark, an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama, has come under fire - including from Obama himself - for "attacking" or "devaluing" Sen. John McCain's military service.
In fact, he did no such thing.
He did say this, which seems self-evident: "I don't think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president." That quote, taken out of context, seems, at worst, cavalier and dismissive of McCain's service and sacrifice during the Vietnam War, when he was shot down and spent years as a POW.
But most of the news accounts fail to include Clark's quote in the context of the interview with Bob Shieffer on "Face the Nation." Clark first praised McCain's service: “I certainly honor (McCain’s) service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces as a prisoner of war.” He said, though, that McCain lacked an executive background and decision-making experience.
Shieffer countered, “Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down,” host Bob Schieffer said. Which is when Clark said, "I don't think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president."
Comments
[July 1, 2008 10:21 AM]
HenryToo late. Obama already threw him under the bus.
And just to make it clear, an Obama spokesman sent out this brief statement as Obama was speaking: "As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and, of course, he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark."
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/barack-obama-sl.html
[July 1, 2008 10:54 AM]
HenryNext under the bus:
“Sadly, Sen. McCain was not available during those times, and I say that with all due respect to him," said informal Obama adviser Rand Beers. "I think that the notion that the members of the Senate who were in the ground forces or who were ashore in Vietnam have a very different view of Vietnam and the cost that you described than John McCain does because he was in isolation essentially for many of those years and did not experience the turmoil here or the challenges that were involved for those of us who served in Vietnam during the Vietnam war."
"So I think," he continued, "to some extent his national security experience in that regard is sadly limited and I think it is reflected in some of the ways that he thinks about how U.S. forces might be committed to conflicts around the world."
http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?RsrcID=3207
Where was Obama during Vietnam? Studying in a school in the predominantly Muslim nation of Indonesia.
[July 1, 2008 12:39 PM]
BUDand HOW do you GET in the seat of that jet?? you train, you go through what it IS to be a member of the best military on earth. And THAT EXPERIENCE does help one as a qualification for that "commander OF chief"( as OBAMA calls it) position. Clark is a hack and an embarrassment to the military
[July 1, 2008 2:38 PM]
JoshFunny how McCain's 5-year stint in Viet Nam didn't give him the moral courage or the "right kind of experience" for the presidency, but Kerry's four-month stay, did.
"John Kerry has heard the thump of enemy mortars.
He's seen the flash of the tracers. He's lived the values of service and sacrifice. In the Navy, as a prosecutor, as a senator, he proved his physical courage under fire. And he's proved his moral courage too.
John Kerry fought a war, and I respect him for that. And he came home to fight a peace. And I respect him for that, too.
John Kerry's combination of physical courage and moral values is my definition of what we need as Americans in our commander in chief."
--Clark at DNC convention, 2004
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/29/dems.clark.transcript/index.html
Also interesting is the fact that Democrats were so distressed at Bush's National Guard service, yet aren't the least bit bothered by Obama's lack of service.