If Obama's Not Qualified, Then Who Is?

I've just got time for a quick question, tonight. We know that Hillary's said a number of times that, unlike herself and John McCain, Barack Obama has just not had enough tough foreign policy experience to be qualified as Commander-in-Chief. There's been a spirited debate over that in various places (all of which you can find yourself if you bother to do a little Googling--don't look to me to make everything easy for you), but whichever side you come down on that point, it still leaves open the question of who, besides herself and John McCain, does live up to the standard.

The answer, of course, is none other than Sinbad! Sinbad accompanied Hillary (and Chelsea and Sheryl Crow) to Bosnia to entertain the troops. Mary Anne Akers of The Washington Post talked to him recently. And whatever else you might have to say about Sinbad, the man has nerves of steel:

Harrowing? Not that Sinbad recalls. He just remembers it being a USO tour to buck up the troops amid a much worse situation than he had imagined between the Bosnians and Serbs.

In an interview with the Sleuth Monday, he said the "scariest" part of the trip was wondering where he'd eat next. "I think the only 'red-phone' moment was: 'Do we eat here or at the next place.'"

Clinton, during a late December campaign appearance in Iowa, described a hair-raising corkscrew landing in war-torn Bosnia, a trip she took with her then-teenage daughter, Chelsea. "They said there might be sniper fire," Clinton said.

Threat of bullets? Sinbad doesn't remember that, either.

"I never felt that I was in a dangerous position. I never felt being in a sense of peril, or 'Oh, God, I hope I'm going to be OK when I get out of this helicopter or when I get out of his tank.'"

Yeah, sure, Sinbad's got that same problem with the Middle-Eastern name, and I can only presume that the original Sinbad was Muslim, so I don't know if the current Sinbad would get smeared with the same kind of madrassa rumors that have been dogging Obama. But at least he'd have appropriate foreign policy experience.

By the way, Sinbad also weighed in on another statement Hillary's made that always seemed a bit off:

In her Iowa stump speech, Clinton also said, "We used to say in the White House that if a place is too dangerous, too small or too poor, send the First Lady."

Say what? As Sinbad put it: "What kind of president would say, 'Hey, man, I can't go 'cause I might get shot so I'm going to send my wife...oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.'"

Oh, go ahead. The jokes just write themselves.