Presidential contender Sen. Marco Rubio says he won’t watch the Democratic debate tonight because he has a “busy day ahead.”
Aside from five years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio has no experience in warfighting. Rubio has no direct military experience in any capacity or even any close relation in the military Like so many other Democrats and Republicans, he is a chicken hawk who is ready to commit the military to more involvement without understanding an exit strategy, second order effects, or Murphy’s Law that is so prevalent on the battlefield.
But he is more than happy to use the military to show how tough he is without ever having served or walked a mile in those boots.
In the Democratic debate Senator Jim Webb is someone that both Democrats and Republicans could learn from. No one in Congress or, for that matter the Presidency, in this new millennium has been more concerned about the proper use of military forces and of husbanding them from frivolous commitments.
Webb was the moving force behind the New GI Bill. He was against the conflict Iraq, but not in Afghanistan. He understood his exit strategy in Afghanistan and realized that the exit strategy in Iraq was decades away. He was against silly forays into Libya and Syria, realize this would further open Pandora’s Box, when Democrats and Republicans wanted to do something, anything to show just how tough they are and what good leaders they are. Now Europe and the United States are suffering from this misguided adventurism with hoards of immigrants salted with terrorists.
Senator Rubio talks fast and uses lots of buzz words that he barely understands. His youthful looks remind this analyst of another cavalier President: John Kennedy.
The Republicans need to stop their bluster. Candidate Carly Fiorina wants to “restore respect for the military.” President Reagan did that, but then avoided bad wars. When he realized he was in the middle of an unwinnable civil war in Beirut, Lebanon, he pulled out American troops.
Too many bad Presidents wanted to prove how tough they are by getting tough with American troops and American lives. The country needs a leader that leads by example, wisdom, and cares for his troops, not pseudo macho bluster. President’s Grant and Eisenhower weren’t blustery. As President they valued the lives of their military as they had seen too many wasted. We has seen this in so many very recent wars, yet candidates like Rubio and Fiorina can’t wait to commit someone else.
Hillary and Bernie are clueless and Hillary as a commander-in-chief would be feckless with her cavalier changes, as was Bill in Somlia. But Republicans can learn from Webb, and one smart one might pick Jim to be a responsible Secretary of Defense.
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