Qualifications and Hyperbole

It seems to be all Hillary, all the time in this week's posts, so it makes sense to end on a low note as well.  Likely you at least heard an allusion to Barack Obama's recent endorsement of Hillary Clinton, which would be meaningful if anyone cared any more what Barack Obama thinks about anything.

But Hillary probably appreciated it, at least as a sign that there's a chance he intervenes to stop the Justice Department from indicting her.

The allusion you very possibly did hear was where Obama said about her, “I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office.”  So there are two parts to that sentence, as Prof. Irwin Corey might have answered. 

The first: "I don't think."  Now, that we all can agree on.

But this president, who ought to know at least enough about American history to have been some kind of professor of Constitutional law at some institution with low standards, apparently assumed no one would actually take issue with that ahistorical judgment.  When the press lets you say and do anything without question, you get to where you do say and do whatever you feel like.

I, however, am not in the press.

So let's look at reality, something from which Obama is somewhat divorced.  Now, even I will concede that Hillary's qualifications are different from anyone else's.  No previous candidate, for example, had all of their previous public experience be derived not from experience but from whom they were married to.  Hillary was 53 before she served in any public salaried capacity whatever (carpetbag senator from New York), because after practicing law, she spent 19 years of her adult life being the wife of the governor of Arkansas (11 years) and president (eight years).

Now, that's different.  But it is arguably no more qualifying than Bill's Secret Service detail, or his butler, might have, given the proximity to decision-making and the lack of responsibility associated with being married to the person actually in the job.  Actually it's less responsibility than the butler.

I will also concede that the term "qualified", as a criterion, is a real stretch too.  Dwight Eisenhower was a perfectly fine president, and he never held public office until being elected in 1952.  But in the sense of background, a term or so in the Senate and one as Secretary of State is perfectly fine, or would be if she hadn't failed so miserably at State.  But it's on her resume.  So is she qualified?  Sure, I guess.

And in fairness, she wasn't the moron who said he didn't think there had ever been anyone as qualified.  After all, Obama himself was pretty minimally qualified, if at all, since before his term in the Senate spent not voting on bills and running for president, he hadn't done squat.  So in contrast, I guess she looked fine to him.

But before popping off about her qualifications, the least he could have done -- and this was a taped, pre-written speech -- would have been to look at even some recent candidates.  Even in his own party, the previous candidate, John Kerry, followed two years as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts with 28 years in the Senate.  Al Gore had eight years in the House, eight in the Senate and eight as Vice President.  Bill Clinton had eleven years as governor of Arkansas, an executive position that is a reasonable one from which to gain experience.

I realize that Obama didn't expect anyone to challenge his assertion, or anything else he says, but at least the last two Democrat candidates before him had stronger resumes than hers -- or his own.  He could have, you know, looked it up.

And that's before we get to old #41, George H. W. Bush, who was elected president when Barack Obama was 27, meaning at least he could have voted for him -- or against him.  Either way, he should remember him; the man is still alive after all.  Bush the Elder served as congressman from Texas, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, envoy to China, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, director of the Council on Foreign Relations and then vice president of the United States for eight years.  And he didn't marry anyone to get well-known.

Barack Obama can say stupid, uninformed or simply intentionally mendacious things, and some people will smile and applaud, for some reason.  Fortunately, when he tried to portray Hillary as if no one in his memory were more qualified for the presidency, there was no one in the office to applaud.  So we can avoid getting caught up in whatever anyone would get caught up in, and think for ourselves.

She may have served in a couple jobs, but she was incompetent.  And he has to be deluded.

Copyright 2016 by Robert Sutton
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