Wes Clark is the one on the right."[John McCain] hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn't a wartime squadron. I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”
-- Disgraced former Supreme NATO Commander and Obama lap dog Wes Clark on John McCain's war record and qualification for POTUS.
“If the opposing candidate doesn’t really have the experience or knowledge or depth in international affairs, then one approach can be, I suppose, to try to deny that Senator McCain does.”
-- Vietnam combat veteran and former national security adviser Robert “Bud” McFarlane
By Brian Knowlton
Published: June 29, 2008
WASHINGTON - With Senator Barack Obama planning to visit the Middle East and Europe in an apparent effort to burnish his foreign policy credentials, the credentials of his likely presidential rival, Senator John McCain, came under sharp attack Sunday from a man considered a possible Democratic vice presidential candidate.
The retired general Wesley Clark said McCain had not "held executive responsibility" and had not commanded troops in wartime. McCain's experience in Vietnam, where he was a prisoner of war for five years, has seemed at times almost to grant him invulnerability to criticism of his security background. But on Sunday he was assailed by a fellow military man, a highly decorated one who was once the NATO supreme commander.
McCain frequently points out that he led "the largest squadron in the U.S. Navy," but Clark said on CBS television that that was not enough to support a claim to the presidency.
"He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall" as a wartime commander, the general said on CBS. Clark is mentioned as a possible Obama running mate, although he originally supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
When the interviewer, Bob Schieffer, noted to Clark that McCain had been shot down over Hanoi, Clark replied, "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."
When Schieffer then asked what executive responsibility Obama had held - the Democrat's résumé includes work as a community organizer in Chicago and eight years in the Illinois legislature - Clark said that Obama was running on the strength of his character and good judgment.
Brian Rogers, of the McCain campaign, was quick to hit back in a release: "If Barack Obama's campaign wants to question John McCain's military service, that's their right. But let's please drop the pretense that Barack Obama stands for a new type of politics. The reality is, he's proving to be a typical politician who is willing to say anything to get elected, including allowing his campaign surrogates to demean and attack John McCain's military service record."
Wes Clark's smear is no doubt a poorly orchestrated line of attack from people who are still sore over what they labeled the "swiftboating" of John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election campaign.
Obama's "qualifications," according to Clark, are evidence of how low liberal standards are: Community organizer? State senator who voted present to avoid being on record on controversial issues?
If Obama is truly running on the strength of his character and good judgement as Clark claims, McCain is as good as elected.
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