The bulk of my post was in response to Dave's no-so-veiled implications that people who don't hold college degrees aren't intelligent and his outright statement that McCain doesn't understand email. Neither are true.

"Well, as we all know, one of the "greatest" Republican presidents, Ronald Reagan, had none of that experience either, now did he?? Just because you've been in the military does NOT "qualify" you to lead a country. All it "qualifies" you for is to fire a rifle, fly a plane, or maybe go into hand-to-hand combat. (Hmm...maybe that's how we should settle our international problems...)

Ronald Reagan joined the Army and was deferred from combat because of his eyesight. So they put him in the unit that filmed Army instructional videos instead. And what is it with Republicans electing actors, anyway?? Reagan, Schwarzenegger...??"

Military service, no matter what the field of assignment might be, is so much more than training in the usage of the tools of war and defense. Leadership, recognition and respect for chain of command, and discipline are a just few more qualities one learns and lives while serving our country. Barack Obama has already shown he is lacking in these areas concerning our military and our current commander in chief. He tried to prevent the surge, second guessing both the generals in the theater of operations and the President. He couldn't have been more wrong. Just a few months ago, he tried to talk the sitting leadership of the country of Iraq into waiting until after the elections in this country before agreeing to a gradual withdrawal of American troops (because the surge worked, the Iraqi military and security forces are stronger and more organized, the differing Islamic factions - Sunni and Shiite - quit trying to kill each other and have been working together to rid their country of al-Qaeda and Iranian insurgents). Not only was that a blatant attempt to circumvent the authority of the President of the United States and those in the military leading our men and women in the region, it was done so to insure that our military under President Bush could show no sign of success in the region. Keep more of our troops there because it would make GWB look bad (while continuing to try to attach McCain to GWB at the head,shoulders and ankles), and make himself look good by taking credit for the withdrawals after he is elected. That is one very small tail trying to wag a very big dog, all at the expense of you and me.

As to Republican actors getting elected to high office. At least they were actors and needed to read from a script in their chosen profession of entertainment before they moved to politics. The two you cite are/were both pretty good at working without a script while serving as the governor of a state that, if it were a country, would have the 8th largest economy in the world. They've both actually run something significant. Obama can't run for office without a script. He is an empty suit who can read a speech. He did one town hall type debate with McCain, and failed miserably. He won't do more of those, because without a script, he is lost. Not someone we want or need as the next leader of the free world.