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Wes Clark, Presidential Qualifications, and McCain

Marc Ambinder has an excellent take on Wes Clark's statement that McCain's "riding" (he was actually piloting, it wasn't a carpool) in a plane that was shot down in Vietnam isn't a qualification for the Presidency.

[T]he statement is both patently obvious and patently false. Wait, you say. How could it be both?

Well, being ?shot down? (or being imprisoned) is obviously not a qualification in the sense that the fact that Barack Obama turned down lucrative corporate law work to join a public interest law firm has any bearing, in the abstract, on his claim to be president.

Aside from military command service (which was sort of Clark?s point) or being a strong governor of a large and complex state, there really aren?t any other bright line qualifications for being president.

Elections are as much about what the presidency is, and to that end, all of these qualifications service a particular view of what the presidency ought to be about. In that way, John McCain?s military service, and especially his decision, as a POW, not to jump the line and walk out of prison when offered, is a piece of who the man is and tells us about the decisions he has made.

Same with Obama and his post-law school career choice.

Well said.

Elections, to a large degree, turn on (1) character as well as (2) competence and (3) issues. We're going to hear a lot of things that aren't "qualifications" because they're designed to fit into category (1), but are misinterpreted as attempts to fit into categories (2) or (3).

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on July 01, 2008 (boomark / email).