Comments on the Presidential Race

Hillary Clinton keeps saying the Barack Obama hasn't passed the "Commander in Chief" test. I hope I'm not letting a national security secret out of the bag here, but neither has she -- she's been in the senate 7 years, which is about 13 years less than the Republican nominee has been in the same august body. So I think she's playing with fire here. But when you're 100 delegates behind, maybe that's a game worth playing.

Who did pass the "C in C" test? I think Al Gore did, but I didn't get a chance to vote for him this time around. George Bush the lesser definitely didn't -- he just sat in the big chair in Texas for a few years, oblivious that there were continents across the sea (he was vaguely aware of Mexico).

Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy, Nixon -- none of them really passed the "C in C" test prior to becoming leader of the free world. I think of all of the recent "deciders", George Bush the "greater" had the best preparation, and he ended up using all his moxie for the largely successful Gulf War Vol. I to some effect. But Truman did all right in the Commander in Chief department, I'd say, and he didn't have a whole lot more prep than either of this year's Democrats.

In the end, we relied on the judgment of these men.