The Cafferty File, part of The Situation Room on CNN, poses a question every hour The Situation Room is on. This is today's 7:00 question, and a response.
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How much does it matter to you if a presidential candidate has military experience?
Having military expertise is an added bonus, but not a necessity. To run for president, one has to be 35 years old. That would mean that the only candidates with military experience would have fought in Vietnam, or MAYBE in the First Gulf War. The war we are fighting today is a different type of war; it's a war against insurgents and terrorists, not armed forces in uniform.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Does it Matter if a Presidential Candidate Has Military Experience?
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4 comments:
simmons,
I agree that military experience does not fall into the realm of non-negotiable requirements for president. I would opint out that there has been significant US military activity in other theaters. The former Yugoslav states and Somalia come to mind. Both of these conflicts (as do Vietnam and Desert Shield/Storm) have some important parallels with the present war; multiple factions, diffusive fronts, cultural/state devolution, &c.
I am lefty who would prefer someone on the winning ticket having military experience. I may not like Colin Powell, but I doubt he would have sent us to the Stupid Pointless War.
Unlike the chickenhawks in the current administation.
--Ron
E.R. Dunhill:
Yes, there has been similarities between previous wars and the current one, but they are not the same.
Rown West:
Colin Powell wouldn't have sent us in, but if he had, at least he would have done it right (brute force). That's why being a veteran is a positive characteristic, but it still isn't required.
I think we need a leader who judges military situations on a reality-based approach, as opposed to the ideological approach used by the Bush Administration to go into Iraq.
Military experience can be helpful, like Powell, but it is no guarantee of wise and just leadership.
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