“I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.” -Gen. Wesley Clark, on CBS’ Face The Nation, Sunday.

What, if anything, is wrong with that statement? According to the majority of the mainstream media, a whole hell of a lot. Or there’s at least enough controversy to sculpt a day’s worth of cable news around, to give Wolf Blitzer a Situation to occupy his Room. Not surprisingly, the fringe media is also having a field day with this, both right and left.

This should also come as no surprise; I agree with his statement. You should, too.

Pull yourself away from whatever side of that swiftboat attack you’re getting ready to jump on and think about what he said- “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.” -what about that is an attack? It’s a true statement.

Just because John McCain flew a plane that got shot down during a war that was predicated on a lie (Gulf of Tonkin), doesn’t necessarily mean that he’d make a better president than the guy who wasn’t even in middle school at the time. Conversely, just because Barack Obama was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review doesn’t mean that he’d make a better US President than someone who wasn’t (or someone who finished 894th out of 899 in his graduation from the US Naval Academy…sorry, that was a cheap shot, but it’s true).

But if these simplistic indicators can’t help us judge which of these two men should be the next POTUS, then what does? Since we don’t seem to have prerequisites to be POTUS (aside from, up to this point, being a wealthy, anglo-saxon male), I guess we’re really shooting in the dark. If we don’t hold up McCain’s service in Vietnam or Obama’s community organizing in Chicago alongside their legislative records and other various personal accomplishments, we’re pretty much up shit creek without a paddle.

The McCain camp has proposed Town Hall-style Lincoln-Douglas debates, which, if done honestly, I think would at least give the people more insight into each man’s vision for the important issues facing us today. But, the Obama campaign hasn’t fully committed to this idea, most likely due to the political maxim against debating someone who you are well ahead of in the polls.

And that’s fine. really. As voters, we’ll have to make it up as we go along just as much as the candidates do. As quickly as they shovel shit at us, we need to sift through it to find out what’s really important and viable. It’s not easy. But succumbing to reactionary, knee-jerk stupidity as crucifying a decorated General such as Wes Clark for making a valid and poignant statement, just because someone may construe it as an attack, well, that’s just dumb.