Don't worry about his lack of experience, he'll select great advisers...

Some of you have probably heard about Barack Obama's senior adviser who had to resign after making a stupid remark about Hillary Clinton that she thought was off the record. Normally this stuff, no one pays attention to and they shouldn't - people say dumb stuff all the time about people they don't like and it's only in the spotlight that it actually costs you your job. But then I learned more about who it was, and it really, really bothered me. For a few reasons.

The woman making the comment was Samantha Power. Let me start by saying that I have the utmost respect for Ms. Power, and I'll explain that in a minute. But let me back up by saying that nearly EVERY argument I've heard in support of Obama's campaign, when confronted with his lack of experience in politics, is that he'll surround himself with brilliant advisers as they always do and everything will be just fine. I wanted to believe that.

But Samantha Power was Obama's "expert adviser" on foreign policy. Ms. Power is a distinguished journalist, but whose main focus is on the policies leading up to genocide and ethnic cleansing. Let me reiterate - Ms. Power does not have a background or history in politics - she is a journalist, and she was chosen as the senior foreign policy advisor. Now I can and would talk all day on these topics, I have and love Ms. Power's Pulitzer prize winning book, and I'm not saying anything here that I didn't say on Amazon.com's rating area years ago. I'm not sure, first of all, that someone with such a limited focus and lack of experience is qualified to be a foreign policy adviser - let alone THE foreign policy adviser - because we see time and again that it's the treaties and policies that come back to haunt us (those who do not learn from the past, are doomed to repeat it - which we've proven probably 6 times this last century alone).

But Ms. Power's book, if it does have a critical failing, is the constant harping on the need for MORE US MILITARY INVOLVEMENT around the world. You read that right. The guy who is screaming that we need to get out of Iraq TODAY, who says we never should have been involved, made his FIRST choice in foreign policy adviser to be someone who favored MORE involvement in other countries' business. If you oppose our involvement in the Iraq war - you CANNOT support Obama with a straight face if he is choosing advisers in this manner. Ms. Power's only positive statement in her writing on Bill Clinton was his choice to approve military intervention in Kosovo. Sure, we wanted to stop that genocide. But what was she whispering in Obama's ear - we need to invade North Korea, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, the Sudan, Iran....where else? There are a lot of human rights violations going on today.

Ms. Power is a brilliant researcher who cares deeply for people. She points out the governmental situations leading to genocides and ethnic cleansing, and postulates on how it can be halted. But her main theory is, if the US got in there early, on the ground with boots, most genocide would stop. (I believe that was only really true in Rwanda - but again I can talk your ear off about this stuff.) She is a journalist who was serving in not just a political role but as a scholarly adviser - and she still didn't think an off the record comment calling another candidate a "monster" was bad judgment?? (And note - this experienced journalist requested the comment be "off the record" AFTER she said it. That ain't how it works.) Further, his choice of adviser would be one who got us more involved with every petty dictator who threatened ethnic cleansing, and in every country that had civil strife resulting in mass suffering for its citizens. I'd love to have all the money and all the troops in the world to stop evil in its tracks, I really would. But that's not the real world and that's also not the bill Obama is selling - publicly.

So please - if you're one of those people confident that his lack of experience would be overcome by his choice of advisers - think very long and hard about how you feel now, knowing this choice proves that he is not going to surround himself with the brilliant and experienced advisers we'd hoped for, nor does it agree with the very lovely rhetoric he spouts at rallies. Otherwise I hope you'll join me as one of the many Democrats who in November will be punching the "McCain" button if the other choice is "Obama." (In other words - if you still have the chance - pull that lever for Clinton!!)