In other words, she doesn't have the government management experience of a Reagan, Carter or Bill Clinton. Nor does she have the international, military or naval experience of an Eisenhower, Hoover or a Franklin Roosevelt. Now, this doesn't mean she would not make a jim-dandy president (although I would prefer about 295 million other Americans in that job before her). But it does mean that the clich that she is the experienced candidate is just hooey.
As to Sen. Obama being the candidate for change, this idea seems to have originated with -- Sen. Obama. His home page has a big map at the top entitled "Road to Change." And he wrote an audacious book claiming the novel audacity of a politician offering the change of hope to the voters. Of course, politicians since the beginning of time have peddled either fear or hope -- with the better ones offering both simultaneously. Moreover, his policy thinking appears to be politically safe and routine left-of-center Washington think tank ideas -- nothing terribly innovative.
Nor is offering to end partisan bickering much of an innovation -- although accomplishing it would be. And that is where a shrewd assessment of Sen. Obama would suggest his is an unlikely personality to end partisan bickering. He has already, in his short Washington career, displayed a haughty pride in his own high intelligence, a definite instinct for sarcastically toned comments about his opponents (even in his own party), a refusal to admit any errors and an undisciplined and flippant manner.
Imagine a President Obama -- with all those traits -- reaching out, working with and compromising with the full menagerie of Capital Hill creatures. He couldn't possibly hold his tongue for eight weeks, let alone eight years, working in harness with congressmen, senators and interest group representatives he judged to be knuckle-dragging nincompoops. This is a guy destined to be the Godzilla of skunks at any Washington bipartisan picnic. Which is not to say that he wouldn't be a prince of a president. It's just that it will not be based on changing the way Washington does business.
The media should not be so willing to parrot each of Clinton's and Obama's campaign themes. They are able work-a-day politicians trying to get themselves elected president. Nothing wrong with that. But Hillary Clinton is one of the least experienced major candidates for president in the last 100 years, and Barack Obama is neither stylistically nor substantively offering any more change than have most candidates over the generations. So far, neither party is offering up a candidate with nearly as much change instinct or worldly experience as is clearly needed in this rapidly and dangerously changing world.
Tony Blankley
Tony Blankley, a conservative author and commentator who served as press secretary to Newt Gingrich during the 1990s, when Republicans took control of Congress, died Sunday January 8, 2012. He was 63.
Blankley, who had been suffering from stomach cancer, died Saturday night at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, his wife, Lynda Davis, said Sunday.
In his long career as a political operative and pundit, his most visible role was as a spokesman for and adviser to Gingrich from 1990 to 1997. Gingrich became House Speaker when Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives following the 1994 midterm elections.
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