In Glen J. Gillette’s Thursday letter, headlined “Obama, Clinton not in McCain’s league,” he states that he can’t imagine Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton as commander in chief and, if the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the White House, he wants John McCain to answer it.
With respect to the headline on Mr. Gillette’s letter, which was written by the Sun, Obama for one is in the “major” leagues and McCain is literally and figuratively in the “Bush” leagues.
The last thing we need with our overextended military is a neocon and/or war hawk in the likeness of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.
In 2002, several months before George W. Bush requested and received authority from the Senate to exercise war powers in Iraq, Obama stated the following:
“I don’t oppose all wars ... What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war ... I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined costs, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East and encourage the worst, rather than the best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaida ...”
Obama’s uncanny, accurate assessment back in 2002 of the grave consequences of going to war shows that he has the decision-making skills to make the most serious decisions, including whether or not to go to war.
I for one would get greater comfort if the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the White House and someone would answer who had the good and sound judgment to avoid or end an unnecessary war as opposed to one who would start or extend one.
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