Published: October 23, 2008 10:49 pm         

Next president needs McCain’s experience, values in crisis

One flaw of the political campaigning process is that it tends focus too much on current events, today’s votes and today’s international crisis. Yet the person we select as president will lead our nation for the next four years through national and international turmoil that we cannot yet envision.

Our next president needs to have more than quick, glib answers to the question of the day. Our next president needs experience and values that will lead him, and our nation, through the challenges ahead.

John McCain is the best choice to lead our nation.

McCain offers the depth of experience that will meet the challenges of today and the next four years. McCain seems to have a better grasp on the issues facing our nation, from the economy and energy policy, to national security and foreign relations, to health care and immigration.

McCain is a war hero with a lifetime of experience in public life. His opponent, Barack Obama, is an impressive speaker, intelligent and charismatic. But as a first-term senator, Obama lacks the experience needed when foreign powers and world events test our nation’s values and resolve. And have no doubt, we will be tested, and tested often. McCain is the best qualified to deal with the leaders of other world powers, both allies and dangerous enemies.

While Obama appears to seek an expanding federal government role in almost every issue that affects our lives, McCain has a track record of voting for generally less government and less spending. McCain’s judicial appointments would be more likely to interpret laws, rather than trying to remake them.

Voters have been saying they want to stop the gridlock in Washington. They want leaders who can work together for the betterment of the country. McCain is the only candidate of the two who has shown a willingness to reach across the aisle and work with senators of the opposing party. He has been vocal in standing up for what he believes is the right course, sometimes in opposition of his own party. That bipartisan spirit will be critical as the next president works with a Democratic majority in Congress.

McCain is not the perfect candidate. Both McCain and Obama appear to lack a solid commitment to the role of production agriculture in our nation’s economy and the economy of rural America. But of the choices we face Nov. 4, McCain has the background — tested by years of experience — that will best serve and lead our nation.