Judging good judgment

Should we elect the next president of the United States based on years of political experience, or on evidence of good judgment and decision-making? John McCain is much older than Barack Obama and has more years of political experience. But if we are looking for a president who shows good judgment, let’s examine the individuals each candidate selected to be his running mate.

Obama chose Joseph Biden, a man with both many years of political and foreign-policy experience and good judgment, a senator who is known and respected around the world, a man who has run for president himself and who would make an excellent president if Obama were to die in office.

McCain selected an inexperienced woman with no qualifications to be vice president or president of the United States—a position she could well have to assume if McCain wins in November, given that he would be the oldest person ever elected to a first term.

Is a woman who was mayor of a tiny Alaska town and then governor of that virtually empty state for less than two years ready to step into the most powerful job on Earth and govern 300 million Americans? Do we really want as vice president or president a woman with so little interest in the world that she has only been to neighboring Canada once and only got a passport last year to see Alaskan National Guard troops in Kuwait? Does our country really need another president whose ignorance could get us into another unnecessary, costly war?

McCain had a large number of highly respected, politically experienced, presidential-quality Republican men and women from whom he could have selected his running mate. That he passed over all of them in favor of what’s-her-name shows that he would rather play politics than do what’s best for the nation.

— Fred Flaxman
Weaverville