He certainly stood tall for a man who didn’t stand tall. I’d have loved to hear him speak.
I think the argument that Hillary Clinton is not qualified to be President is weak and grasping at straws, particularly compared to the other people in the race. And, I say this as a supporter of Obama. The reason that I support Obama is not that I think he has better qualifications but rather because they are both well enough qualified but he is the one who has shown better judgement in regards to Iraq and who I think is less divisive and more likely to win in November. (And, of course, on the judgement score in regards to Iraq, Clinton’s judgement is still much better than McCain’s, who doesn’t seem to recognize to this day that he…or even Bush…was wrong even knowing what we know today. That’s kind of pathetic!)
To begin with I think anyone that wants to be president should automatically be disqualified. I also have a very low opinion of pretty much all politicians. The longer they are in office the longer they have had to trade their petty souls and make back room deals most of which only serve to get them elected again.
So Hillary is as qualified as anyone. If Bush can run the country for 8 years my Jack Russell could hardly do much worse.
Once again I find no choice worth making in the presedential election with the exception of voting the Republicans out.
What’s her executive experience? That is, what organizations has she run?
Not sure if being Partner at Rose Law amounts to running an organization.
Other than that, the only thing I know that she has run has been her campaign organization, which has been lousy with infighting and confusion and unclear responsibilities and shifting positions and control confusingly split between too many chiefs.
According to a recent article in Rolling Stone, the Obama campaign has been progressively organized, has worked with great and proactive foresight, has introduced effective new management methods, and - from the sounds of it - has become a really excellent place to work, where they really get things done well.
Electoral-Vote.com did a chart a few weeks back cross-referencing past presidents’ years of government experience with their “success ranking” as determined by historians. It’s charted in several ways and is pretty interesting. According to it, we haven’t had a really successful, highly “qualified” president since Washington (LBJ would be the second place, it seems).
Mind you, you can nitpick parts of it. For instance, the author admits that he doesn’t try to artifically weigh experience so a year in the state legislature is worth the same as a year in the governor’s seat.
Well before Clinton’s going Scaife totally disgusted me, this factor pushed me toward Obama. I consider it a significant indicator of how effective each would be as the chief executive of the country.
I’ve heard arguments that Obama will flop because of inexperience, much as his good friend Deval Patrick has struggled in the governorship of Massachusetts. But there is a crucial difference between the two: Patrick came into government from the corporate world, with no elected experience, and the entrenched and arrogant power structure of the Massachusetts legislature has made it their business to eat his lunch. Obama has considerable experience working with legislators at both the state and federal level, has shown his ability to work across the aisle effectively, and should have much less difficulty getting along with Congress – not least because a lot of freshly minted Democrats will owe their seats in part to his coattails.
Please enumerate his experience crossing the aisle to work with Republicans. Certainly he hasn’t done this much since getting elected to the Senate, where his record has been pretty much voting with his party almost all of the time.
And for a specific example of working with a Republican, there’s the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, introduced by Obama (D) and Coburn (R).
She is at least as qualified as Bush…and look how well HE turned out!
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Um, wait a sec…
-XT
I think a person needs to be president of another, smaller, country before they can be considered president of the US. See how do presidentin’ Spain, for example, before letting them bat in the big leagues.
Cheney did better than that. He even headed up the search for Bush’s running mate.
I’m SO glad you asked this!
Kennedy And McCain, Authors Of Immigration Reform Bill, Thanked Obama As One Of Small Bipartisan Group Of Senators Who “Stood Together To Make This Legislation Possible.”
McCain said, “After several weeks of extensive debate and consideration of numerous and complicated amendments, the Senate is about to move to final passage on S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act…I also commend the Senate Leadership on both sides of the aisle for their efforts to ensure that the Senate addressed this important issue and gave us more than adequate time for a thorough debate. This is a proud moment for the United States Senate, as we have conducted good work and returned to orderly traditions of the legislative process as envisioned by our founding fathers…And of course, I commend Senator Kennedy, who is perhaps the leading expert on this difficult issue…**I also want to thank Senators Brownback, Lieberman, Graham, Salazar, Martinez, Obama, and Dewine for their shared commitment to this issue, and working to ensure this bill moved successfully intact through the legislative process.” **In a speech on the Senate floor, Kennedy said, “I thank those of our bipartisan group who stood together to make this legislation possible–Senator Graham, Senator Salazar, Senator Martinez, Senator Hagel, Senator Durbin, Senator Lieberman, Senator Brownback, Senator Obama, and Senator DeWine.” [McCain Press Release, 5/25/06; Congressional Record, 5/26/06]
Obama Passed Into Law Legislation Requiring Lobbyists To Disclose Their Bundling Activity, Making Him Unpopular Even Among Other Democrats.
Obama sponsored an amendment to require lobbyists to disclose the candidates, leadership PACs, or political parties for whom they collect or arrange contributions, and the aggregate amount of the contributions collected or arranged. The amendment was passed by unanimous consent and attached to the Senate ethics bill, which was signed into law on September 15, 2007. The New York Times wrote, “The disclosure idea’s lead sponsor, Senator Barack Obama… ‘has not been the most popular person in our caucus in the last couple of weeks,’ said a Democratic aide involved in deliberations over the bill.” [S. Amdt. 41 to S. 1, S. Amdt. 3, Submitted 1/11/07, Agreed to By Unanimous Consent, 1/18/07; S. 1, Signed into Law 9/14/07; New York Times, 1/20/07; CQ, 9/15/07]
Obama Passed Law Requiring Comprehensive Nuclear Threat Reduction Strategy To Secure Weapons And Usable Nuclear Material.
"Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced that a provision authored by Obama and Senator Hagel (R-NE) in the Senate and advanced by Schiff in the House requiring a comprehensive nuclear threat reduction plan passed as part of the omnibus appropriations bill. This provision requires the President to submit to Congress a comprehensive plan for ensuring that all nuclear weapons and weapons-usable material at vulnerable sites around the world are secure by 2012 from the threats that terrorists have shown they can pose. The Senate passed the omnibus appropriations bill last night and the House approved the same bill today. It will now be sent to the President to be signed into law.
Obama Passed An Amendment Into Law That Pressured The EPA to Comply With New Lead-Paint Regulations After Seven Years of Delay.
In 2005, Obama passed an amendment, which became law, to the FY 2006 Department of Interior Appropriations Act prohibiting the use of funds in the bill to delay or contravene implementation of an existing but unmet statutory requirement passed by Congress in 1992 that the EPA rewrite regulations on dispersal of lead paint by home remodeling contractors by October 1996. As of July 2005, the regulations still had not been written. Weeks after Obama’s amendment passed the Senate, Obama received commitments in writing and during a Senate hearing that the EPA would comply with the law. According to an Obama press release, “In 1992, Congress required the EPA to write regulations relating to the dispersal of lead paint by contractors during home remodeling by October, 1996. As of July 2005, these regulations still have not been written. In April, Administrator Johnson stated that to address the problem of lead paint poisoning, the EPA ‘will determine what additional steps may be necessary, including regulation’ despite the fact that the 1992 law does not say the regulations are optional.” [SA 1061 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent, 6/28/05, Obama Press Release, 7/25/05; H.R. 2361, Became Public Law No: 109-54, 8/2/05]
Obama Passed A Law Requiring The Defense Secretary To Report On The Pentagon’s Efforts To Prepare For Military And Civilian Personnel For A Possible Influenza Outbreak.
In 2006, Obama sponsored an amendment to the FY 2006 Defense Authorization Act that required the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress on the Pentagon’s efforts to prepare for pandemic influenza, including pandemic avian influenza, including status on the procurement of vaccines, public health containment measures that could be implemented on military bases and other facilities; surge capacity for the provision of medical care during pandemics; surveillance efforts domestically and internationally and how such efforts are integrated with other ongoing surveillance systems; the integration of pandemic and response planning with those of other Federal departments; collaboration (as appropriate) with international entities engaged in pandemic preparedness and response. [SA 1453 as modified agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent, 11/18/05; S. 1042/H.R. 1815, Became Public Law No: 109-163]
Obama Passed Legislation Prohibiting DHS From Entering Into Open-Ended, No-Bid Contracts For Emergency Response Activities.
“Legislation authored by U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) that will stop the abuse of no-bid contracting in the aftermath of a disaster was included in the final Department of Homeland Security funding bill likely to pass the Senate today. After Senate passage, the bill will go to the President’s desk to be signed into law…After Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency used emergency authority to enter into open-ended, no-bid contracts. What was meant to be temporary stop-gap authority ballooned into wasteful contracts that lasted many months and wasted significant federal resources. Obama and Coburn legislation will stop this practice by restricting the use of emergency contracting authority only to urgent needs in the immediate response to emergencies…On three separate occasions, Obama and Coburn have passed legislation in the Senate that would end no-bid contracting with Gulf Coast reconstruction funds. Legislation that would have specifically prohibited no-bid contracts with Gulf Coast reconstruction was stripped from a previously passed funding bill.” [Obama Press Release, 9/29/06]
Obama And Hatch [(R-UT)] Passed Legislation To Protect Individuals’ Rights To Continue Donating To Charities And Religious Organizations During Bankruptcy.
In 2006, Obama was an original cosponsor of a bill that protected individuals’ rights to continue donating to charities and religious organizations during bankruptcy proceedings. The Hatch-Obama bill responded to a court ruling that above-medium income debtors in Chapter 13 bankruptcy could not deduct charitable contributions, including religious contributions, from their payment plans. The ruling was based on an interpretation of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA). Hatch and Obama authored S. 4044 to ensure that all individuals in bankruptcy, no matter their income, would be able to continue giving to charity and their church. The bill passed the senate by unanimous consent and was signed by the president. [S. 4044, Signed 12/20/06, Became Public Law No. 109-439]
Want more?
Anyone want to post a similar list of Sen. Clinton’s bi-partisan accomplishments?
Sure, I’ll be right back.
Don’t go anywhere now…
I really will be back!
If an extensive law background, several appointed state government positions, and 8 years as a Senator isn’t enough of a resume to run for President, I don’t know what is. I don’t think attacking her resume is the best way to defeat Hillary politically, especially when her current opponent’s official resume looks so similar.
Her current opponent worked for several years as a civil rights lawyer, then worked for a number of years as a state legislator, before getting elected to the Senate. By contrast, Ms. Clinton had no state-level legislative work before becoming a senator, and received that senatorship as a “gift” as it were from the Democrats. So, her only work as a politician really consists of a few appointed state board positions and one term plus a couple years as a senator. These are not really equivalent routes.
The irony of this is that it is Sen. Clinton who raises the qualifications issue, by asserting that somehow she is better suited for the Presidency. Presumably, being the wife of a President somehow makes you a potentially good President.
Not to mention the ‘empty suit’ talking point that gets passed around. If he’s an empty suit, she’s not even an empty T-shirt and shorts.
Related anecdote: After James K. Polk made Buchanan his Secretary of State, Andrew Jackson strongly objected to the appointment. To which Polk replied, “But, General, you yourself appointed him minister to Russia in your first term.” “Yes, I did,” Jackson explained. “It was as far as I could send him out of my sight, and where he could do the least harm. I would have sent him to the North Pole if we had kept a minister there!”
I really hope Mr. Moto at least acknowledges this post instead of letting it slip by without comment.