Judgement is relative...

John McCain recently said that he does not question Barack Obama’s patriotism, but does question his judgment. I agree, good judgment is a critical aspect of the President of the United States, and that’s where John McCain falls way short. In his 2002 book, “Worth Fighting For”, McCain wrote “I make them as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can” and “Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint.”. Is this a characteristic that we really want from the most powerful person on Earth, a focus on snap decisions?

A couple of years ago, Laura Bush said of her husband, "George is not an overly introspective person. He has good instincts, and he goes with them. He doesn't need to evaluate and reevaluate a decision. He doesn't try to over-think. He likes action." The parallels are frightening. Neither man is a fan of analysis. Each likes action, and each sleeps well no matter the consequences.

Fast forward to John McCain’s choice of Vice President. The process he used to select Sarah Palin speak volumes about how McCain makes decisions, independent of whatever qualification she may or may not have. He met her in person only once, and briefly, and had one phone conversation the day before she was announced. His team did not even bother to check out the newspaper in her home town to see if there’s any “interesting” information. That’s it. Yet somehow he concluded that this person was qualified to be his next in line, the second most powerful person in the world, and as he stated, his “Soulmate”. McCain defended this by saying that he has followed her career for “Many many years”, a curious statement considering she’s only been a Governor for one and a half years. John McCain is right, solid judgment is critical, and he has shown that in that category he is sorely lacking. To think of this man as Commander in Chief, one decision away from another war, is truly a scary thought.