Message to Mark Penn:

I am voting for a President, not a "commander in chief".

We have heard the "commander in chief" meme ad nauseum from Rudy and McCain. One would think, listening to the Republican candidates, that waging wars IS (and should be) the primary job description of any President.

Tonight, while being interviewed by Keith Olbermann from the "spin room" of the Kodak theater, Mark Penn rehashed this meme and suggested that Hilary Clinton was the only candidate ready to be commander in chief from day one.

It occurs to me that a President should take on the mantle of commander-in-chief with great reluctance, with introspection, and with the awareness that his/her actions and decisions are of the utost seriousness and consequence.  By resorting to war and by assuming the power of commander in chief, a President proclaims that we have no choice but to use violence to achieve our ends, that all other routes have failed, that a more human solution is impossible.

Anyone who relishes that role, who looks forward to it, who extolls their preparedness for it, does not fully understand the horrors, degradation, and inhumane nature of war.  

Tonight, Obama said something to the effect that he not only wants to end the war in Iraq, he wants to end the mindset that engendered it.  That is a statement that I support, and it illustrates the fundamental difference between Obama and the rest of the candidates (democrat and republicans).  They are all "ready", they say, to be commander in chief.  
Barrack Obama is ready to be President.

•  Exactly

  A country is not a business, nor is it a war machine. Both images are just WRONG !

  by murphy on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 08:57:03 PM PDT

•  He

  will get it right from the first day. OBAMA.

  by christine20 on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 08:57:30 PM PDT

  •  and

    if he happens to get it wrong, he'll probably admit to his mistake, not claim that he was "misled".

    by mainecabinfever on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 08:59:10 PM PDT

•  Toy Soldiers

  It's as if they want to be "commander in chief" of the toy soldiers I used to play with when I was a kid.
  (yes we did that back in 1961)

  Unfortunately they are not toys and this is grown up stuff.

  by Judgment at Nuremberg on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 08:58:32 PM PDT

•  another message

  Mr Penn please wipe your nose before going on camera.

  by hasdrubal on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 08:58:37 PM PDT

  •  was that sweat running off his jowels?

    by mainecabinfever on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 08:59:47 PM PDT

    •  He was SOO sweaty...n/t

      by joshlyman on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:29:15 PM PDT

  •  Oh, GAWD yes!

    And did you see how sweaty he was?

    Both on CNN and MSNBC.  Somebody hand that man a hanky!

    It's hard work being a union buster instead.

    by DemocraticOz on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:00:41 PM PDT

    •  Penn was almost

      at the RudyG/Albert Brooks level of flopsweat tonite. When Keith nailed HRC on her suggestion of some kind of meglamaniac competition between osama and saddam; Penn eyes almost bulged out adding to the reptilian image he projected..He looks as if he smells like fear and loathing.

      I am surprised he ever saw the light of day after his last disasterous appearance with Trippi and Axelrod. Even Wolfson is slightly better than Penn.

      by Hawkjt on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:09:14 PM PDT

      •  perfect description!

        Thanks for the good laugh.  

        by mainecabinfever on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:11:19 PM PDT

      •  Disagree about Wolfson

        I almost felt sorry for Penn tonight given his lame performance.  To me Wolfson is the devil incarnate.

        by kosophile on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:44:21 PM PDT

        •  although, I could never, ever feel

          sorry for Penn.

          by Vera Lofaro on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:55:37 PM PDT

•  Commander in Chief, Tv Series, 1st woman pres. n

  by nycstray on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 08:59:39 PM PDT

  •  A shame that show got canned...

    I was really fond of that one.  Sutherland was the perfect scheming Repub.  

    by Ericwmr on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:24:07 PM PDT

•  It

  Shows a complete lack of comprehension of the Constitution.

  by sviscusi on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:13:43 PM PDT

•  Do you suspect maybe....

  that they poll-tested and/or did psyops type research and determined that voters would be scared to choose a President who didn't have that rah rah military undertone?

  In truth, the phrase that kills me is "Commander in Chief of the country" .......

  Notes from history, BTW:

  1. JFK ran on a platform advocating MORE missiles...criticizing the GOP for not making enough.

  2. Military Spending. I can't find the exact quotation but President Eisenhower said he feared for the day that the occupant of the White House didn't know as much as he did about military $...how much is the right amount, what you get for it.....Fear of boondoggles, you might say.

  http://www.time.com/...

  P.S. HERE'S A GOOD MEME FOR YOU:
  No use being Commander in Chief if you aren't also a good diplomat. (see article linked above)

  by LNK on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:16:47 PM PDT

  •  I think it's plain

    and not just because plain ol' Maggie Thatcher said it, but a woman has to be twenty times as strong on security and defense as a man to be elected.

    One of the biggest hurdles Clinton has to overcome is the societal bias against a woman as Commander in Chief.  So it is in their interest to begin discussing her that way, just to plant the idea in people's minds.

    It's just politics.

    by Kevvboy on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:22:25 PM PDT

•  He's already pushing her towards war

  Not Iran, Venezuela. His firm is registered to lobby for the rightist regime in Colombia.

  by ben masel on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:39:09 PM PDT

•  Message to Penn: lose weight

  He was sweaty and very heavy.  The guy looks like he's on the verge of a major coronary.

  by kubrick2008 on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 10:06:23 PM PDT

•  Apparently, Penn's book sucked out loud

  Ezra Klein wrote a scathing review of Penn's book, "Microtrends."

  My favorite passage from that review:

  His new book Microtrends is so bad that the question—in a fair world—isn’t whether it will destroy his own reputation, but whether it is so epically awful as to take the entire polling industry down with it.

  Ouch.

  by Dump Terry McAuliffe on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 10:18:06 PM PDT