The Pink Flamingo :: What's In Your Resume? Are You a Foreign Policy Expert Like Obama?

Barack Obama’s “real life” experience reminds me of those ‘entry level’ classifieds where they are a front to get people to do commission only hard labor. “No experience necessary”. So the NYTimes has this piece where Obama says real life experience is more important than a life-time of foreign policy experience.

“…“Experience in Washington is not knowledge of the world,” he continued, provoking laughter among those present. “This I know. When Senator Clinton brags, ‘I’ve met leaders from 80 countries,’ I know what those trips are like. I’ve been on them. You go from the airport to the embassy. There’s a group of children who do a native dance. You meet with the C.I.A. station chief and the embassy and they give you a briefing. You go take a tour of plant that” with “the assistance of Usaid has started something. And then, you go.”

During the speech, Mr. Obama also spoke about having traveled to Pakistan in the early 1980s. Because of that trip, which he did not mention in either of his autobiographical books, “I knew what Sunni and Shia was before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” he said.

Over all, Mr. Obama’s remarks seemed directed primarily at his Democratic rival, Mrs. Clinton. But some of his digs, including the one about distinguishing Shias from Sunnis, also apply to Mr. McCain, whose campaign offered a sharp, mocking response to Mr. Obama’s claim to expertise.

“When John McCain travels on official business, he meets with presidents, prime ministers, foreign and defense ministers, members of parliament, human rights leaders, N.G.O.’s, business leaders and journalists so that he acquires a full understanding of the country he visits and the issues at stake in our relations,” said Mark Salter, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain. “Oh, and as Senator Obama may know, he has actually spent some time living abroad as well.”…”

Okay, is anyone with half a brain buying this …dodo….?
Like a Ronco commercial, there’s more:

“…According to his campaign staff, Mr. Obama visited Pakistan in 1981, on the way back from Indonesia, where his mother and half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, were living. He spent “about three weeks” there, Mr. Obama’s press secretary, Bill Burton, said, staying in Karachi with the family of a college friend, Mohammed Hasan Chandoo, but also traveling to Hyderabad, in India.

Mr. Obama appears not to have previously cited his travel in Pakistan in speeches during the campaign. In “Dreams from My Father,” he talks of having a Pakistani roommate when he moved to New York, a man he calls Sadik who “had overstayed his tourist visa and now made a living in New York’s high-turnover, illegal immigrant work force, waiting on tables.”

Mr. Obama, the campaign and his publisher have not provided any details about the identity of Sadik.

During his years at Occidental College, Mr. Obama also befriended Wahid Hamid, a fellow student who was an immigrant from Pakistan and traveled with Mr. Obama there, the Obama campaign said. Mr. Hamid is now a vice president at Pepsico in New York, and according to public records, has donated the maximum $2,300 to the Obama campaign and is listed as a fund-raiser for it.

Mr. Chandoo is now a self-employed financial consultant, living in Armonk, N.Y. He has also donated the maximum, $2,300, to Mr. Obama’s primary campaign and an additional $309 for the general election, campaign finance records show….”

McCain Blogs

MY FOREIGN POLICY RESUME
So, if Barack Obama is using this kaka as his foreign policy experience to be the President of the United States of America, I would like to submit my foreign policy resume:

ENGLAND
WALES
FRANCE
1985 – July/August – 8 weeks in England where I traveled extensively in the southern counties studying Authurian England and the ancient Celts. I spent several weeks in Wales involved in cultural studies and dealt expertly with Welsh-American trade issues.I spent a few nights in London where I improved American-British trade relations by extensive shopping at Harrods. I then flew to La Rochelle, France where I toured extensively, working on Franco-American cultural and trade relations. While there I briefly saw an old admirer of my sister, an Iranian exile who was opposed to the Iranian Revolution. Because of this, and the fact that the same Iranian Exile once spent two weeks visiting our church back in the mid 1970’s I have extensive knowledge of the intricacies of the Iranian situation.

I am highly qualified to deal with the Prince of Wales due to my week in Wales.

I am extremely qualified to work with our closest foreign ally, the British because of the two months I spent in the UK.

After spending a weekend in France, I am qualified to handle Franco-American trade issues.

IRAN
Therefore I am far more qualified than Barack Obama to handle relations with Iran.

RUSSIA, GEORGIA, FORMER SOVIET BLOCK
1988 – While attending a performance of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York City, (Siegfried) I stood in the water fountain line in front of Eduard Shevardnadze, who was very chatty and charming. He helped me with a cup of water and held filled it for me. Upon returning to my 2nd row seat, I told my mother if all the top ranking Soviet leaders were like Shevardnadze, the world had a chance to survive.

Therefore, I am just as qualified as Barack Obama to deal with Russia, Georgia, and the former Soviet Block.

IRAQ
My half brother is serving in Iraq. I am now qualified to deal with the war in Iraq.

INDIA & PAKISTAN
My adopted sister is from India. Her husband is from India. They are Sunni Moslem. My sister’s dear friend, Chub is from the New Delhi region. She is Sikh. Her husband, from New Delhi is Hindu. Their two year old son is American. I have had extensive interaction with these individuals as well as others from India and Pakistan.

I am now highly qualified to handle foreign policy with India and Pakistan. Because of “family ties” in India, I could have extensive trade connections with India.

JAMAICA – A total of 4 weeks of extensive travel throughout the island with a working knowledge of trade relations and the culinary and cultural attributes of the sugar cane industry and its primary export. I also sold Blue Mountain Coffee in my store back in the early 1990’s. That qualifies me as a trade expert.

ST. MARTIN – Extensive travel and trade relations.

ANTIGUA – Extensive travel and trade relations.

GUADELOUP – A total of 4 weeks of travel at Club Med. It has rendered me an expert on Franco-American trade and the mixlogy and consumption of native cocktails.

SUDAN:
KENYA:
My paternal uncle, Paris W. Reidhead was a missionary in Sudan in the late 1940’s. My cousin Paris was born there. If this weren’t enough to render me an expert in the foreign policy of Africa, my niece, Rachel Boulden was on the Kenyan border interviewing victims of Al Qaeda war crimes. She spent 6 months in Kenya. Because of Rachel’s time in Kenya I am as much of an expert in Kenyan affairs as Barack Obama. I am also probably more of an expert in the crimes Al Qaeda has committed in Sudan than Obama.

BOSNIA
My niece, Rachel spent a summer working in an orphanage there. So, I’m an expert. Oh, my half-brother was also there during the “war” we fought under Bill Clinton.

MIDDLE EAST
I have an uncle by marriage who has family that came from Lebanon, with relatives who were highly placed in the government – in the 1950’s. This makes me an expert on the Middle East.

ISRAEL
I have numerous Jewish friends. I do not consider them to be “the enemy”. I think this probably makes me a “friend of Israel” rather than a “friend of Palestine, etc” that is Barack Obama.

AUSTRALIA
I regularly email a blogging friend from Down Under, thus giving me extensive knowledge of our other major ally.

CANADA
My liberal editor is from Ontario.

MEXICO
I have a close friend who is a Mexican aristocrat, artist, and has numerous contacts in that country. This renders me an expert.

CHINA
My favorite Chinese eatery, The Great Wall, is owned by Ryan & Nana Chang. She was born in mainland China and finally made her way to the US. She has relatives in Hong Kong and Taiwan. She will provide extensive cultural and trade assistance, thereby rendering me an expert on China.

VENEZUELA
My niece Rachel is dating a man who has family who has fled Venezuela because of Hugo Chavez. It makes me an expert.

TO SUM IT UP
If we use the Barack Obama method of Foreign Policy experience, I think any one of us can submit our resume to be POTUS, and may have more foreign expertise than does Obama.

Get out your resume and polish it a little. I bet if you pad it, you too, can run for POTUS as an “expert in foreign policy”. Sure know I can!