Richard WarnickJohn McCain Would Be a Bad Commander in Chief
There, I said it. This country can’t afford a President McCain. Hillary Clinton claims that McCain would be a better commander in chief than Barack Obama. She couldn’t be more wrong.
Josh Marshall today has a superb take-down of McCain’s CINC credentials, after yesterday’s gaffe provided a small opening for such criticism. Senator Joe Lieberman had to correct McCain after he confused Shiite Iran and the Iraqi Sunni insurgency that the Bush administration likes to call “al Qaeda.” If Obama had messed up and said that it’s “common knowledge” Iran is training al Qaeda fighters, it would be repeated everywhere on the news for at least a week.
Marshall points out that McCain has no global strategic vision of America’s real vital interests, or any idea of what to do to reverse the overall downward trends of America’s reputation, economic standing, and national security.
The idea that fighting jihadists in Iraq or policing the country’s sectarian and ethnic disputes is the calling of this century is one that is belied in virtually everything we see in flux in today’s world and which seems certain to affect us through the rest of our lifetimes and our children’s.
…Hillary Clinton has stipulated to McCain’s qualifications as Commander-in-Chief; and Obama, implicitly, does the same. But his record actually shows he’s one of the most dangerous people we could have in the Oval Office in coming years — not just because he’s a hothead in using the military, but more because he seems genuinely clueless about the real challenges and dangers the country is facing. He’s too busy living in the fantasy world where our future as a great power and our very safety are all bound up in Iraq.
And despite his supposed focus on Islamic jihadists, McCain even gets confused about the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Barack Obama, speaking today in North Carolina:
“Just yesterday, we heard Senator McCain confuse Sunni and Shi’ite, Iran and al Qaeda,” Obama said.
“Maybe that is why he voted to go to war with a country that had no al Qaeda ties. Maybe that is why he completely fails to understand that the war in Iraq has done more to embolden America’s enemies than any strategic choice that we have made in decades,” the Illinois senator said.
He also mocked McCain’s oft-stated to vow to follow Osama bin Laden to “the gates of hell” if elected, arguing the U.S. focus should have been on Afghanistan and Pakistan instead of Iraq.
“We have a security gap when candidates say they will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell but refuse to follow him where he actually goes,” Obama said.
UPDATE: See the video on Veracifier.com.
Continue for more updates
UPDATE: More from Obama’s speech about the “security gap.” I like that phrase– reminds me of the Vietnam-era “credibility gap.” It describes the biggest problem this country faces in just two words.
[H]ere is the stark reality: there is a security gap in this country - a gap between the rhetoric of those who claim to be tough on national security, and the reality of growing insecurity caused by their decisions. A gap between Washington experience, and the wisdom of Washington’s judgments. A gap between the rhetoric of those who tout their support for our troops, and the overburdened state of our military.
It is time to have a debate with John McCain about the future of our national security. And the way to win that debate is not to compete with John McCain over who has more experience in Washington, because that’s a contest that he’ll win. The way to win a debate with John McCain is not to talk, and act, and vote like him on national security, because then we all lose. The way to win that debate and to keep America safe is to offer a clear contrast, and that’s what I will do when I am the nominee of the Democratic Party - because since before this war in Iraq began, I have made different judgments, I have a different vision, and I will offer a clean break from the failed policies and politics of the past.
Nowhere is that break more badly needed than in Iraq.
UPDATE: Think Progress points out that McCain has alleged Iranian support of al Qaeda several times. His misstatement in Jordan was just one example, and part of a deliberate disinformation campaign.
The point is that John McCain’s misstatement is typical of conservatives, who have, through intentionally deceptive language, constantly tried to elide the differences between groups with different goals and ideologies in order to create the illusion of a united Islamofascist enemy. In doing so, conservatives are practicing bad politics in the service of bad policy.
UPDATE: McCain’s campaign is attempting to push back on their candidate’s false statement that Iran is in league with al Qaeda, despite the fact McCain, corrected by Joe Lieberman, already withdrew his assertion. But they made the mistake of cherry-picking a quote from General Odierno.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
President…President…he should be being fit for a coffin! He’s like 900 dog years!
March 19th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
That was actually quite a beautiful sight seeing McCain, Lieberman, and Graham standing there with the egg all over their faces almost hiding their pasted on smiles and all three of them thinking “get me out of here.” Actually, that’s probably what McCain was thinking in the above picture with Graham close by.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Thank Richard for posting this.
I would pay huge money to see democrats and republicans go head to head on a world history test so Republicans could see how criminally stupid their REPUBLICAN politicians are.