Republicans will undoubtedly use experience as a major theme of the campaign. John McCain's actions effectively counter this strategy.
John McCain and his supporters are attempting to make an issue of the relative lack of experience of Barack Obama. While I personally welcome a candidate with a lack of Washington experience, and look forward to having a president with a much more valuable asset (judgment), whenever I see John McCain speak, I immediately think of a question repeatedly posed by one of my business professors (a man I hold in considerable esteem): Does he have 30 years of experience or the same year of experience 30 times?
In the case of John McCain, it is quite obvious to me that the latter is indeed the case. John McCain has proven an inability to learn from his considerable number of years of experience, especially regarding the most important issues that the president will face in the next 4 years.
One would think that after having spent 5 years as a prisoner in a war that should not have been fought, and was subsequently lost, McCain would think long and hard about sending our young men and women into an almost identical situation. John McCain fully supported our involvement in this war, and, while he claims he differed with Bush on strategy, he cannot deny his support of the invasion and subsequent occupation.
One would think that after the failure of escalation of that war, McCain would recognize the folly of “the surge” (escalation) in Iraq. Not John McCain, who made it clear that that was his strategy from the outset.
One would think that after having suffered torture for five years, McCain would be unequivocally against torture sanctioned by any American administration. Even if he was not concerned about American treatment of foreigners, one would think he would, at the very least, be concerned about retribution. Not John McCain. After initially strongly stating that America should never torture, McCain completely relented, and wholeheartedly supported the Bush administration’s redefinition of torture.
One would think that after seeing the results of the Bush tax cuts on the federal budget, the dollar, and the resultant maldistribution of income between the haves and have-nots, John McCain would support the rollback of these cuts (the cuts that he initially opposed). Again, the “experienced” candidate now wholeheartedly supports making these foolhardy tax cuts permanent.
It seems that Stephen Colbert’s compliment of George Bush, “He believes the same thing on Thursday that he believed on Tuesday, no matter what happened on Wednesday,” also applies to John McCain. Is there any doubt why he’s called John McSame?
Experience will undoubtedly be the major theme of John McSame’s presidential campaign; we can’t allow him to get away with it. We must repeatedly ask the question, 30 years of experience or the same year of experience 30 times? The public’s answer to that question may well determine whether we suffer the McSame policies for the next 4 years.
Joe
http://butlerdemblog.blogspot.com