army navy plays politics

If Barack Obama picks Sen. Jim Webb as his VP, we will be faced with a poor choice as a country--Do we want a USNA grad as President or Vice President? All joking aside, however, there is also talk of Gen. Wes Clark as Obama's VP which would pit a West Point VP ticket against a USNA Presidential ticket.

One might think this doesn't matter all that much, but in reading some of the articles lately, I've found echoes of arguments we've had as Cadets and Middies quite often. Leadership in the Army is vastly different from Naval leadership which is in turn different from Air Force Leadership. Quite often people consider an Officer is an Officer is an Officer, but this is untrue. While I don't necessarily agree with what I quote below, the argument should ring with hints of long-standing rivalry for anyone who went to West Point or Annapolis and, if Clark is chosen as VP, will put the black and gold up against the blue and gold for leadership of the country in a way I don't think we've seen before...and would make next years Army Navy game (immediately post election) quite interesting.

Anyway, here is the quote from Clark:

"I know he's trying to get traction by seeking to play to what he thinks is his strong suit of national security," Clark said of McCain while speaking from his office in Little Rock, Arkansas. "The truth is that, in national security terms, he's largely untested and untried. He's never been responsible for policy formulation. He's never had leadership in a crisis, or in anything larger than his own element on an aircraft carrier or [in managing] his own congressional staff. It's not clear that this is going to be the strong suit that he thinks it is."