Whomever wins tomorrow, the fact that Obama has gotten as far as he has as fast as he has represents a troubling trend in our country. Never before has someone so completely unqualified or unprepared to be President gotten so close to the Oval Office. As we count down to election day, we can only hope and pray that the electorate has paid enough attention in the last 48 hours to send this clown back to Illinois. If not, this country in headed for an ugly 4 years.

Barrack Hussein Obama II is not qualified to be president. The Presidency is the toughest, most challenging, most important CEO position in the world. It is not the place for on-the-job training. We should not experiment with affirmative action. We should require more from our President than a flashy smile, a nice suit, and a large bankroll. We should treat the election like a job interview, and require our candidates to have actual skills, executive experience, and a proven track record.

Before I go into Obama’s qualifications, or lack thereof, let me define what I believe are the minimum qualifications for being President:

1. Citizenship – The Constitution requires Presidents to be a natural born citizen at least 35 years old.
2. Public Executive Experience – Running the Executive Branch requires executive experience. It requires the ability to massively multi-task and compartmentalize. It requires the ability to surround yourself with competent lieutenants, and to delegate to your subordinates. These are the skills one gains as an executive in a large organization. There are differences between government executive skills and private executive skills, so it is important that the president has spent time in either the Federal or a state executive branch. Governors, Lt. Governors, Vice Presidents and Cabinet Leaders are all good examples.
3. Private Executive Experience – The Government places an incredible burden on its citizens and businesses. If you have never run a business, made a payroll, sat through an audit, negotiated a benefits contract, it is hard to truly understand the impact of the laws and regulations passed by the Government. To be an effective President, it is best that you have spent time in the private sector running a business.
4. Military Experience – The President is the Commander in Chief of the military. To gain a full grasp of military issues and structure, it is desirable that the President has served in some capacity, be it active duty, reserve, or national guard.
5. Public Policy Experience – The President must also deal with a wide range of issues including the economy, the budget and taxation, social security and other entitlements, foreign relations, and nominating judges. Candidates should have extensive experience either at the Federal or State level on matters of Public Policy.
6. Character – Above all else, character counts. A man of character can surround himself with subordinates to fill in the gaps in his experience. As Peggy Noonan once wrote: “In a president, character is everything. A president doesn’t have to be brilliant… He doesn’t have to be clever; you can hire clever… You can hire pragmatic, and you can buy and bring in policy wonks. But you can’t buy courage and decency, you can’t rent a strong moral sense. A president must bring those things with him…” I agree.

As a partisan, I might add other requirements relative to specific policies or positions, but in general, a President must meet the Constitutional requirements and should have executive experience, military experience, policy experience, and strong character. With that as my list of job requirements, lets compare Obama’s resume to see if he matches up:

1. Citizenship – Obama is over the age of 35, but there are outstanding questions on his citizenship. Obama has made a copy of a computer generated Certificate of Live Birth available online, but has refused to release his original birth certificate that would have been created by the hospital. Obama most likely IS a citizen, but it is striking and somewhat curious that he hasn’t just release the original and ended the speculation. All it would take is one phone call.
2. Public Executive Experience – Obama has none. He has never served in an executive role at the federal or state level.
3. Private Executive Experience – Obama has little to none. After law school, he worked in 1992 for the non-profit Project Vote. He worked as a part-time guest lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He was a junior associate in a law firm for 3 years from 1993 to 1996 where he specialized in civil rights litigation. He also served on the boards of directors of several left-wing non-profit organizations including the Woods Fund, Public Allies, and the Annenberg Challenge. He has never run a private business or been responsible for turning a profit for himself or his shareholders.
4. Military Experience – Obama has none. He has never served in the military in any capacity. He also has never served on any military-related committees.
5. Public Policy Experience – Public policy is the one area where Barack has some experience, but even here his experience is very narrow. Before he was elected to the Illinois State Senate, Obama focused mainly on civil rights issues. He served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 – 2004, where his opponents point out he often voted “present” instead of taking a position. While in the State Senate, he focused his efforts on civil rights issues and racial profiling. Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. During his tenure as Senator, he sponsored 136 bills, of which only 3 have become law. In the 110th Congress, Obama has missed 46% of the votes, meaning he really only has 2 years of on the job activity in the US Senate.
6. Character – Character is perhaps the area Obama is most questionable. Because Obama does not have much of a track record, many have looked to his friends and associates to gain insight into Obama’s character. Obama has a number of questionable associates. His pastor for 20 years who he called his friend and mentor, who married him and his wife, Reverend Jeremiah Wright is a racist and a nut job. Reverend Wright is now famous for preaching such hateful statements as the “US of KKK” and “Not God Bless America, God Damn America.” Obama has said in 20 years he never heard such statements, but Wright’s sermons were well known and were for sale in the lobby of the church.

   Obama served on the boards of the Chicago Annenburg Challenge and the Woods Fund with an admitted domestic terrorist William Ayers. Bill Ayers was a founder of the Weather Underground which amoung other things bombed the Capital Building and the Pentagon. Bill Ayers is an avowed socialist who dedicated his 1st book to, among others, the assassin of Robert Kennedy. On 9/11, Bill Ayers lamented the fact that his terrorist organization had not done more. Obama has claimed he did not have a relationship, but he worked with the guy, AND he launched his political campaign for State Senate in Bill Ayer’s house as one of a series of coffees that were fund raisers for Obama and Alice Palmer. Obama’s excuse is that he was just a kid when Ayers was a terrorist, but he was certainly an adult when he chose to consort with this dirt bag, sit on boards with him, have coffee in his house, and take his money.

   Obama also has questionable ties to the convicted felon real estate developer Tony Rezko. Obama’s purchase of his house in Chicago involved 2 questionable real estate deals which also involved Tony Rezko and his wife. Tony Rezko also worked on Obama’s fund raising committee and has contributed heavily to Obama’s election efforts.

   The list of other questionable characters with relationships to Obama, such as Khalid Al-Mansour who has strong anti-Israeli ties, or his friend and mentor Frank Davis, who is a longstanding communist and suspected Soviet operative, is long. Obama and his campaign calls all questions of his friends and relations as guilty by association. The question remains, however, what if anything can we infer from these relationships of Obama’s character?

   Well, we can infer and rightly so that Obama would have a hard time qualifying for a federal security clearance. During the vetting for a security clearance, the feds would delve deeply into all known associates. Multi-year ties to known terrorists and suspected soviet agents would disqualify the applicant.The bottom line here is that Obama’s list of friendships and business associates certainly calls some of Obama’s judgment into question. His willingness to sit in a church listening to a racist preacher for 20 years certainly does speaks poorly of his character.

When you apply for a job, it is common practice to provide a full resume with references. Most companies do a full background check and credit check. When you have little experience, it is common to turn over your college transcripts. Most companies have a set of minimum requirements for the job. Why should we expect anything less from those running for the highest job in the land?

Obama has no public or private executive experience, weak legislative experience, and questionable character. He has intentionally blocked attempts to verify his most basic qualification for the job, his proof of citizenship. He has refused to release the transcripts from his time at Harvard or Columbia. His personal references including his pastor, his mentor, and his political and financial backers are all lacking. Regardless of his policies, Obama does not have the basic qualifications that should be required to become the chief executive of the United States.