Quote:
Originally Posted by yustr
Mike,
You're forgetting history...Look back on the presidents of the recent past: Dwight Eisenhower was an Army General with no prior experience. Kennedy was a short term Senator. Johnson - career politician. Nixon - well was Nixon, career politician, nuff said. Ford - career politician. Jimmy Carter was a one term governor. The Republican deity Ronald Reagan was a two term governor (and a pretty crappy one if you ask me) with no other prior experience. Daddy Bush was VP plus a bunch of appointments. Clinton - a governor of a minor state. Bush Jr. gov of a large state.
So we've had a mix of career politicians and newbies. Some good. Some not so good. So you really can't make any general risk determination based only on experience alone.
But back on topic: way too much attention has been focused on who is supporting the many candidates but little has been focused on who is advising the candidates. I'm much more interested in who is telling McCain that the market is working wrt health care? Or who does BHO go to for economic advice? These are the likely members of their administrations and will have a large influence in policy. The Rev. Wright will not.
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Many of the former presidents you mention had some experience MANAGING of LARGE ENTERPRISES (i.e. Eisenhower) making tough decisions, dealing with huge budgets. They had to command big administrative bodies and make sure their policies are carried out by people they never met face to face. These are not easy tasks for any person. Indeed, a key question is who are the advisers and those in the close circle of the president, but we cannot say at this stage who these people will be and what positions they will hold. Things can change until elections day.
Rev. Wright, as you correctly say, will not be in the close circle of Obama's decision makers. But, Obama himself mentioned that he was influenced by this person for 20 years. Other people with similar opinions were among his friends. That doesn't mean that Obama's policies will be a copycat of Rev. Wright speeches. This wont be possible even if Wright himself is president. But when you are cooking in the kitchen for many hours the odor sticks to you even when you get out. That is inevitable.
As I already said, Obama might prove himself as an excellent president. Only time will tell. The question is why the American public is willing to take such risks. There are 300 million people in the US. Are these the best candidates that both GOP and democrats could choose? I doubt it.