The Pachyderm Post

In what may be the most significant and substantial endorsement of the U.S. Presidential election season, former Carter administration National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski endorsed Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) on Bloomberg TV this past week.This endorsement is significant because it credibly addresses the only serious concern that the Democratic, Independent and moderate republican electorate has about Obama’s candidacy, which is that he may not be sufficiently experienced, particularly in foreign policy.

His major rival for the nomination, Senator Hilary Clinton (R-NY), has been endorsed by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and former U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, both of whom were appointed to their positions by Clinton’s husband, President Bill Clinton.

Brzezinski has no similar political relationship or obligation to Senator Obama, which makes his endorsement more credible than those of Senator Clinton, and he has a reputation for the kind of crusty independence that makes his support of Obama particularly impressive.

Brzezinski’s endorsement also directly addressed the question of the former First Lady’s White House experience as a qualification for the Presidency, saying “Being a former first lady doesn’t prepare you to be president.”

He said of the Illinois Senator, “Obama is clearly more effective and has the upper hand. He has a sense of what is historically relevant and what is needed from the United States in relationship to the world.”

Of course, the question of Obama’s experience is his Pachyderm Problem, which he must confront and overcome this fall, before the early Democratic Party nominating events. He can only do this by reference and endorsement. The Brzezinski commentary, therefore, is highly significant.

Listen, as Brzezinski is interviewed on Bloomberg TV:

Has no one in the main stream media noticed the breathtaking irony of U.S. “President” George W. Bush’s recent criticisms of Iraq “Prime Minister” Nouri al Maliki’s failure to resolve the sectarian conflicts now roiling the “Plain Old Disaster” known as Iraq?

One of the most – if not the most – partisan U.S. Presidential Administrations in the modern era has the unmitigated gall to directly and indirectly criticize the hobbled Maliki government for its inability to resolve the millennial differences between the deadly adversaries in the wasp’s nest that is Iraq.

The very existence of the Bush Administration depended on the ruthless partisanship masterminded by the recently departed Bush advisor Karl Rove, who viciously attacked Democrats in his efforts to invigorate and mobilize the Republican “base.”

The U.S. President has not found the decency to even refer to his opposition by its proper name: “The Democratic Party.” He consistently – and contemptuously – calls them the “Democrat” Party.

Recently, a spokesman for former Iraqi Prime Minister – and Maliki rival – Iyad Allawi criticised the Maliki government by saying “The problem is in having a political agenda that is founded on a sectarian basis.”

Really.

Listen to Bush decry The Democratic Party for its criticism of Iraq War supporter Senator Joe Lieberman (who, by the way, is still very much a member of The Democratic Party).