One of the things that’s been bothering me about this presidential campaign is the constant droning of so and so doesn’t have any foreign policy experience. Where is it written that a presidential candidate has to have “foreign policy experience”?
How much foreign policy experience did Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush have when they took office? Not to be flippant but I think it’s safe to say a hell of a lot less than when they left. Personally, I’m not particularly swayed by the experience argument; I’m much more concerned with a candidate’s position on the issues and their ability to make the tough choices.
A president has to be a leader and a visionary. He or she has have intelligence to understand and evaluate the information their advisers provide and the courage to act on it.
Yes, a candidates background matters but it’s only one part of the overall picture. We also need to examine the backgrounds and qualifications of the people a candidate turns to for advice on issues whether it’s foreign policy, the economy, defense or immigration.
The cold hard truth is we live in a complicated world and we can’t expect president to be an expert in all things, if we do we’re only deluding ourselves.