For all Biden’s twaddle about doctrines and concepts, there is a simple technique for divining this foreign-policy solon’s bobs and weaves: Consult the polls and the calendar.We'll have to wait and see if any "foreign policy" questions during the debate go beyond, "how many years have you been sitting in on foreign policy discussions?"
As Thomas Sowell asserts in a recent op/ed"experience":
[Biden] has had a front-row seat as an observer of foreign policy. But Senator Biden has never had any real experience of making foreign policy and taking the consequences of the results.You ought to read the whole article. And feel free to attempt a rebuttal.
The difference between being a spectator and being a participant, with responsibility for the consequences of what you say and do, is fundamental.
9 comments:
Senator Biden has never had any real experience of making foreign policy and taking the consequences of the results.
Has McCain?
To follow Sowell's logic to it's ultimate conclusion. If you were to setup a class at Harvard to teach International Relations, it would be better to have a 3rd grade gym teacher than a former Secretary of State who happens to have never taught a class before, simply because that 3rd Grade Gym teacher has "experience" teaching.
Has McCain?
No, but I didn't say he did.
Re. Sowell, I'd say his thesis is that "experience" can be substanceless if all it means is exposure to a subject matter. Ironically, your example references academia--a field notorious for talking but not doing.
Again, having "done" something matters only so far as how it relates to the job you are applying for.
Having a seemingly endless lack of knowledge when it comes to foreign and many domestic affairs, would severely hamper Sarah Palin from doing the job of President well, regardless of whether she has technically been in an executive branch for a little less than two years.
While Obama and Biden (and McCain for that matter) might not have been the ultimate decision maker when it comes to a foreign policy decision, their breadth of knowledge would likely give them the tools to make wiser decisions than Sarah Palin.
But if Sowell's conclusions are accurate, why not just tap the current Mayor of Wasilla to be the next Vice President, because he or she will have had to have made an "executive" decision before.
You're missing the point, I think. "Knowledge" or exposure doesn't equal meaningful "experience."
And did you just assert that Obama has foreign policy experience . . . of any type?
Ned,
Well, actually I said he has knowledge when it comes to those issues, whether its his few years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his degree in International Relations from one of the most prestigious colleges in the US; he has shown over this campaign a pretty firm grasp of the world, even if you disagree with his policy prescriptions.
But, I don't expect you to give him credit on that, so I won't belabor the point.
Fair points, and your list of Obama's foreign policy credentials is kind of the nub of this discussion--I don't think education or exposure equals "experience."
And I think a person's temperament and worldview bear more on his/her ability to craft and implement foreign policy than does his/her education. For example, Obama's reaction to the Russian/Georgian conflict and his statements about Pakistan and Iran--both mentioned in Sowell's article.
Yes, why on Earth would we want a cautious and calm person in the White House when dealing with international affairs? I want a hot tempered, shoot-from-the-hip "maverick" who can't even look his domestic opponent in the eye without oozing contempt.
Naahh, he's just intense, Sean.
But what you're terming "calm and cautious" I'd characterize as naive and doe eyed. In my opinion, foreign policy requires more clear-eyed realism and resolve than anything else.
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