Does Having Been A Fighter Pilot Qualify Someone to be a Neurosurgeon?
Easy answer. Hell no.
How about a symphony conductor?
Again, hell no.
What about computer programmer?
Still, hell no.
What then, if we change it to FBI Agent?
As with the others, hell no.
So why the hell do some people think it is unfair to say it does not qualify one to be Chief Executive of the Federal Government of the United States?
Anyway, I am sort of happy Gen. Clark opened this issue up, this way. Perhaps accidentally, and perhaps sort of as a tactical 'recon by fire,' but now that the cat is out of the bag, we can now discuss the objective reality behind the myth that military service is an actual and objective positive for a potential and/or actual POTUS.
I respect people's service in the service. But the thing that I find most juvenile and demented about the McCain defenders here is they are so ginned up on the mythology, that they are monomanical with their "Sacred Cow" mantra -- any attempt to qualify McCain's service = disparagement -- that they miss the real salient points about McCain's record.
Let Uncle Abstentus give you the objective facts.
Merely being in the service = ZERO, as for any thing remotely resembling a positive point towards a qualification for the office of POTUS. Never mind, the having been a pilot, being captured, and all that heroic stuff. There is no 'flying' or 'hero' qualification for being POTUS. However, being properly educated in the ways of the country and the world, counts. Also, being trained in the art of strategic thinking and having a functional grasp of geopolitical theory, are actual skills that go to the actual requirements of the job of POTUS, specifically in the area of setting and conducting foreign policy, domestic security policy, and war policy, if necessary.
So let's point to the two things that McCain has in his resume that actually count for something:
(1) Graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and
(2) Graduate of the National War College (one of the military schools where they actually teach the mid and senior level officers things like strategic analysis and geopolitical theory.)
Of course, that does not cover the possible mitigating factor; whether McCain still has a functional grasp of the applications and theories he learned at the War College?
My guess is not.
But still. He did finish the program, far as I know.
How about a symphony conductor?
Again, hell no.
What about computer programmer?
Still, hell no.
What then, if we change it to FBI Agent?
As with the others, hell no.
So why the hell do some people think it is unfair to say it does not qualify one to be Chief Executive of the Federal Government of the United States?
Anyway, I am sort of happy Gen. Clark opened this issue up, this way. Perhaps accidentally, and perhaps sort of as a tactical 'recon by fire,' but now that the cat is out of the bag, we can now discuss the objective reality behind the myth that military service is an actual and objective positive for a potential and/or actual POTUS.
I respect people's service in the service. But the thing that I find most juvenile and demented about the McCain defenders here is they are so ginned up on the mythology, that they are monomanical with their "Sacred Cow" mantra -- any attempt to qualify McCain's service = disparagement -- that they miss the real salient points about McCain's record.
Let Uncle Abstentus give you the objective facts.
Merely being in the service = ZERO, as for any thing remotely resembling a positive point towards a qualification for the office of POTUS. Never mind, the having been a pilot, being captured, and all that heroic stuff. There is no 'flying' or 'hero' qualification for being POTUS. However, being properly educated in the ways of the country and the world, counts. Also, being trained in the art of strategic thinking and having a functional grasp of geopolitical theory, are actual skills that go to the actual requirements of the job of POTUS, specifically in the area of setting and conducting foreign policy, domestic security policy, and war policy, if necessary.
So let's point to the two things that McCain has in his resume that actually count for something:
(1) Graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and
(2) Graduate of the National War College (one of the military schools where they actually teach the mid and senior level officers things like strategic analysis and geopolitical theory.)
Of course, that does not cover the possible mitigating factor; whether McCain still has a functional grasp of the applications and theories he learned at the War College?
My guess is not.
But still. He did finish the program, far as I know.
posted by Abstentus at 12:47 PM
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