Foreign policy experience: Obama vs McCain
04 November 2008 à 13h10
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Lack of foreign policy experience has always been the weakest point for Barack Obama in his run for the presidential election.
47 year-old Barack Obama has ten years’ experience in public office. His first eight years were spent in the Illinois Senate and then he spent two years of service in the US Senate.
So there are people who think that if he's elected president, he would somehow not be ready to handle the task of the presidency or at least not as well as his political opponents.
Compared with Barack Obama, the Republican candidate John McCain is 25 years older. He has worked as a Senator for more than 20 years and at the same time he also has a military background. So he always tries to point out that he has the experience necessary to run for president. For McCain himself is “the most experienced and qualified”.
But it is true that Obama’s multicultural experience and his early years living abroad should not be forgotten. And Obama himself has made efforts to catch up with McCain in foreign policy experience. Last July he made official trips in the Middle East and visited major powers in Europe. He met the Iraqi PM in Baghdad. He wants to show his ability in dealing with international issues. He wants to add to his international experience by doing these trips.
Picking Joe Biden was also designed to shore up this weak point of Obama’s, because Biden is a specialist in foreign affairs in the Democratic Party. He is a long serving member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. So he is considered as one of the Democratic Party’s leading voices on foreign policy.
McCain dared to choose the young Alaska governor Sarah Palin (44 years old) as his running-mate even though a campaign spokesman pointed out she had « zero exprience » in foreign affairs. McCain took a risk when he made this choice, but it can also show how confident he is on foreign affairs.
When we talk about foreign policy, we can’t escape the Iraq issue. The Republican candidate has been to Iraq eight times, while Obama has just been there once in January 2006. That is also an argument used by the McCain camp.
After announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama emphasized the importance of withdrawing American troops from Iraq. He said military commanders believe the US troops can be withdrawn from Iraq at the rate of one or two brigades a month. That would take 16 months, until mid-2010. McCain, who has long argued that additional troops were needed in Iraq. He believes it would be a mistake to leave Iraq before al-Qaida in Iraq is defeated and before a properly trained Iraqi security force is in place. For him when Iraqi troops can safeguard their country, then US troops can go home. For the American people who are tired of talking about this, McCain’s opinion could jeopardise his campaign. But if he can put forward the right arguments that can persuade the American people, that could also help him to win.
Anyway experience does not equal knowledge. However for the American people, there is not an ideal job that prepares a person to be a good leader of the USA. The real question is whether the next president has the intelligence to surround himself with people committed to making the next few years better for America.
47 year-old Barack Obama has ten years’ experience in public office. His first eight years were spent in the Illinois Senate and then he spent two years of service in the US Senate.
So there are people who think that if he's elected president, he would somehow not be ready to handle the task of the presidency or at least not as well as his political opponents.
Compared with Barack Obama, the Republican candidate John McCain is 25 years older. He has worked as a Senator for more than 20 years and at the same time he also has a military background. So he always tries to point out that he has the experience necessary to run for president. For McCain himself is “the most experienced and qualified”.
But it is true that Obama’s multicultural experience and his early years living abroad should not be forgotten. And Obama himself has made efforts to catch up with McCain in foreign policy experience. Last July he made official trips in the Middle East and visited major powers in Europe. He met the Iraqi PM in Baghdad. He wants to show his ability in dealing with international issues. He wants to add to his international experience by doing these trips.
Picking Joe Biden was also designed to shore up this weak point of Obama’s, because Biden is a specialist in foreign affairs in the Democratic Party. He is a long serving member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. So he is considered as one of the Democratic Party’s leading voices on foreign policy.
McCain dared to choose the young Alaska governor Sarah Palin (44 years old) as his running-mate even though a campaign spokesman pointed out she had « zero exprience » in foreign affairs. McCain took a risk when he made this choice, but it can also show how confident he is on foreign affairs.
When we talk about foreign policy, we can’t escape the Iraq issue. The Republican candidate has been to Iraq eight times, while Obama has just been there once in January 2006. That is also an argument used by the McCain camp.
After announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama emphasized the importance of withdrawing American troops from Iraq. He said military commanders believe the US troops can be withdrawn from Iraq at the rate of one or two brigades a month. That would take 16 months, until mid-2010. McCain, who has long argued that additional troops were needed in Iraq. He believes it would be a mistake to leave Iraq before al-Qaida in Iraq is defeated and before a properly trained Iraqi security force is in place. For him when Iraqi troops can safeguard their country, then US troops can go home. For the American people who are tired of talking about this, McCain’s opinion could jeopardise his campaign. But if he can put forward the right arguments that can persuade the American people, that could also help him to win.
Anyway experience does not equal knowledge. However for the American people, there is not an ideal job that prepares a person to be a good leader of the USA. The real question is whether the next president has the intelligence to surround himself with people committed to making the next few years better for America.
