Pakistani Politics Provides Focus for Our Own

John G. Krenson
The devastating assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Thursday should make Americans aware of many things. One, those who are running for president of the United States must be thankful that they are running for that office in America. Another, we American citizens should be reminded that freedom is costly and that ours is not something to be taken for granted. And yet another is that the Bhutto assassination brings into sharper focus the candidates who are presenting themselves for that office here.

Our world is dangerous and now it is perhaps a bit more dangerous because of this tragic event. Today each US political party has only one candidate who, relative to the rest, is most prepared at noon on Inauguration Day to hit the ground running in this dangerous world. And these two also present a clear and distinct choice to Americans - just as it should be.

On the Democrat side that person is Hillary Clinton. Despite how “indirect” her own experience may be, the fact is that she has years of experience and familiarization around the top levels of state government and the federal government. She has participated directly in the highest elected body in the world – the US Senate. She knows foreign leaders and has faced crisis of immense proportions – both personal and political. She has a team of advisors that have been around her for years and whom she controls, not the other way around. And she has a well developed and defined vision of where she wants to lead our country. Her main competitors are naïve, inexperienced and subject to manipulation by their advisors. Neither has a well developed and defined track record of what they really might do in office.

On the Republican side it is John McCain. The man has the most direct experience in world affairs and domestic politics at the national level than all the rest of the Republican field combined. He has been in the fires of where he will lead young Americans. He too has long and well developed relationships with world leaders – he will need no introductions. He has been tested at the most extreme levels and has demonstrated how he will respond. His character is probably the greatest of any leader who has aspired to this office. Nobody seeks to control McCain (though the media in the past has had success at manipulating him; a lesson he seems to have learned and that also has bought him long term goodwill among the electorate). Alone among the entire presidential candidate field he is most likely to attract heavy independent votes and crossover votes from his rival party.

Not the most consistent conservative (Thompson can claim that mantle) McCain is more reliable than his chief rivals and he has the substance that Huckabee lacks and the traction that Thompson can’t seem to get; and the depth of experience and world network neither of them have . Thompson is my own philosophical favorite but I would follow McCain proudly.

Clinton and McCain. Two distinct choices with clear discernable and distinguishable visions. Both strong-willed. Both tested under pressure. Both with longstanding, well developed international networks and relationships in a dangerous world. Both know where they want to lead and have a track record to back it up. Whether you love one and despise the other, our nation is fortunate to have these two distinct and tested candidates. And we are fortunate that they are not running in the same environment as Pakistani politics.

John G. Krenson is the author of Crossfire: A Time for Peace, War and Love available at www.johnkrenson.com.