A great deal of rhetoric has been spoken and written about Senator John McCain's many years of experience on foreign policy, and at a superficial glance, conventional wisdom would be that anyone who has been a senator for as long as McCain (since 1983 I think) and a veteran as well would have lots of experience with foreign policy. Conventional wisdom also suggests that an Illinois state senator and freshman U.S. senator would not have so much foreign policy experience. Let me tell you why conventional/superficial readings are completely reversed in this case...
The strange thing is that as a 26 years of U.S. senator, John McCain has not earned very much respect from foreign governments nor from their populations at all. For someone with the carefully engineered reputation of being a maverick, he has failed to capture the imaginations of anyone outside the United States other than the theocratic government of Iran and the Hamas terrorist organization. In fact, John McCain has clearly demonstrated over the past 26 years how inept and undiplomatic he can be, repeatedly offending our allies and potential allies; encouraging our enemies, and making everyone outside the United States very angry at us for his embarrassingly childish rhetoric. As recently as last week McCain either did not know who Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero is, or decided to be offensive to our long time NATO ally, Spain, during an interview with a Spanish language reporter.
Perhaps even stranger, a freshman senator from Illinois has managed to capture the world's attention already; and he's not even finished with his first term. Barack Obama already sits on the Senate foreign relations committee. He has always urged focus on Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and in Pakistan while President Bush and Senator McCain have been focused on Iraq and/or Iran (it's not even clear McCain can tell the difference between Iraq and Iran). In fact, Obama is alone amongst all the candidates in urging a clear focus on Pakistan last year, and that push has been vindicated recently.
Senator Obama's whole life has been preparing him for exactly this kind of role. I am the grown child of a US Air Force enlisted man, and as such I grew up moving from place to place and learning about different cultures. It is so completely imbued into my existence that I sometimes find it hard to imagine what it is like only knowing one town for a large part of a person's life. Likewise, Senator Obama grew up all over the world; and his diverse experience and heritage naturally and deeply lend themselves to that same global worldview and ingrained sensitivity to cultural exchange. ShadowSD writes:
Barack Obama has become our most traveled freshman senator. He has helped negotiate a cease fire in Nigeria; focused on the reduction of weapons stockpiles in Russia; spoke out against violence in Darfur. He is definitely a man to be reckoned with in foreign policy, and has clearly established his record on the matter as a man of great substance, sensitivity, and depth. He is so far out of McCain's league that McCain's bid for the presidency based on foreign policy "experience" has become completely laughable.
Personal integrity comes up in foreign policy as well, for the leaders of other nations do not trust a man with a track record of telling lies. Obama has a reputation for honesty and integrity; for telling it like it is even when that may not be something we want to hear. McCain's reputation may have been good at one time, but lately the pack of lies foisted off on the world by him and by his campaign and endorsed by him is truly shocking. It will be very hard for anyone to believe him; though they'll have to take anyone filling the office of president seriously.
I, for one, would gladly take the safe and careful bet that the man with less experience will do a better job than the man who has proven again and again exactly how dangerous his sophomoric temper tantrums can be. Our nation's reputation rides on this, and our ability to effect positive change on the world's stage.
As a veteran, this is a critical issue for me; I know many veterans agree and we'll be voting for the more promising candidate. Vote for Barack Obama to be your next president; it is the only rational thing to do.