Good Judgment is the Measure of a Good President

Much of the McCain attack machine seems to focus on Obama's strong points. That may seem an odd thing to say since doubts about his lack of experience and his patriotism are standard Republican talking points. Picking up where Hillary left off, Obama is depicted as a bit of an oddity and a speechifying neophyte. Curiously, however, he seems to be despised mostly because he's smart, and because he's just so darn likeable.

Obama began stressing judgment as an important leadership quality early in his campaign, questioning the ill-advised decision of McCain and others to invade Iraq. McCain often seeks to co-opt the judgment thing by reiterating his support of "the surge" and criticizing Obama for not supporting it. The self congratulatory image McCain tries to evoke regarding this tactic ignores other basic, unresolved problems in Iraq as if the surge were itself a justification for the war, General Patraeus the ultimate hero.

The fact is the Sunni "Awakening" and the rout of Al Qaeda in Iraq began before the surge was implemented. That we are paying Sunni Sheiks to keep up the good work and please not to kill our troops leaves many other of the country's problems unaddressed. It isn't a particularly positive sign that Maliki's Shiite-dominated government wants to restrain the Sunni sheiks and disarm them. For as much as our leaders would like to see an enhanced Iraqi central government, the way things are going suggests that we and Iraq's fractious populations are working at cross purposes.

And then there are the Kurds. In their oil-rich region where contracts have already been established with companies outside the purview of the government in Baghdad the prospects for cooperative ventures that would benefit the country as a whole are not promising. As the NY Times wrote (Tuesday, 8/19/08) "...despite a recent decline in violence, Iraq's unsettled ethnic and regional discord could still upend directives emanating from Baghdad and destabilize large swaths of the country - - or even set off a civil war." Obviously, "winning" in Iraq is far more complicated than Senator McCain would have us believe or he is perhaps capable of understanding.

McCain's foreign policy credentials are over-rated and tend to be simplistic - - easy answers that elicit applause from partisan groups but promise no relief from the fix we are in. His free-wheeling approach to important issues is inappropriate in someone aspiring to the highest office in the land. Just a joke McCain is inclined to say when one of his peculiar rejoinders hits the airwaves - - hilarious, like the bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran Beach Boys reprise, or that the definition of being rich is five million dollars. That he actually thought the first reference was funny shows both a lack of judgment and a warped sense of humor. In the second case, he wasn't trying to be funny but probably just got caught expressing his honest opinion.

In general, if one actually listens to what the candidates are saying, the contrast between the two is stunning. When McCain speaks about health care, for instance, he re-floats the Bush tax-deduction plan for individuals to buy insurance in the competitive market. And he supports health-savings accounts allowing families to set aside tax-free monies for emergencies. Only politicians oblivious to the struggles of poor and middle-income families would pose such unrealistic solutions to the financial exigencies ordinary Americans face. And responding to every international crisis with a war cry isn't exactly enlightened foreign policy.

It is strange that in assessing the two major candidates, Obama is the one characterized as being off in the ether talking of hope and change while McCain is often described as the "safe" choice with whom many voters feel comfortable. But is it realistic to keep talking about tax cuts, as McCain supporters do, when our infrastructure is crumbling, our educational system is endangered and war has turned us into a debtor nation? When Obama speaks of the future, of change, of greater opportunities for our young people, he makes clear at the same time that effecting change won't be free. It may not be a message people want to hear but, as Obama said from the very beginning, it is a message they need to hear. Hopefully voters will be listening as they make their November decision.

Whatever other substantive areas are addressed in the waning days of the campaign, good judgment is the most important attribute a president can possess. That is one of Obama's strengths, a point that should be hammered home at every opportunity. This is no time to put a loose cannon in the White House.