You are essentially reinforcing my point, Neocon. Bush's flubs on the quiz would not be meaningful, except insofar as they fit into a general pattern, which demonstrates that Bush is just not up to speed on foreign policy matters.
You are quite right: he will not have time to bring himself up to speed during the campaign, because he has too many other things to do. So we are going to have yet another President who has to learn on the job??!! Who is going to have to rely on advisors "to make sure he has a grasp of the fundamental situation"? Unelected advisors, of course.
No Presidential candidate can be an expert on everything. But before seeking the Presidency, he should have spent time, on his own, thinking about the most important issues he is likely to be faced with, at least enough to have acquired a grasp of the "fundamentals."
My major complaint during past Presidential campaigns has been that foreign policy almost always gets short shrift from the candidates, most of whom have had no exposure to foreign affairs (even when they may have some book knowledge). BTW, this was (for me) a major problem with the Clinton candidacy, and I think, on balance, I was right to be concerned... |
