Obama would make a better President than John McCain based on superior judgement, creative thinking and flexibility in dealing with a fast changing world. These qualities are much more important to the challenges we face today than McCain's perceived edge in experience and expertise in national security.
Obama's position against the war in 2002 proved to be not only courageous (he was in the distinct minority in the face of overwhelming public opinion supporting the war), it also proved prescient. He warned that an invasion would mire us in a long and divisive conflict that would leave us weakened in the Middle East. John McCain supported the war and said it would be an easy victory that would make us safer. It's pretty obvious who showed superior judgement on that issue.
Obama's position to roll back the Bush tax cuts is also well reasoned. In the face of a 9 trillion dollar deficit run up by the Bush administration and a middle class that is losing ground for the last 8 years in their standard of living, the correct approach is to raise taxes on the wealthy to help reduce that deficit while giving more tax cuts to the middle class, whose spending always drives the consumer economy. McCain obviously saw the wisdom of this approach in 2000, when he initially criticized the Bush tax cuts as "unconscionable" at a time of war. After all, how can you embark on a long and expensive war against terror without a plan to pay for it? McCain showed good judgment then. His flip flop on the issue since is a clear case of sacrificing morality for political expediency.
Perhaps the most egregious example of McCain's poor judgment is his current position on offshore drilling and suspending the gasoline tax. Both are short term fixes that will not bring about the desired result of removing our dependency on foreign oil. Drilling offshore is particularly foolish since the numbers required to make the plan tenable simply don't add up. With, at best, 5% of the oil reserves in the US (DOE estimates), and a current consumption of 24% of the world's oil reserves, proponents of this position don't have an answer as to where the additional 19% shortfall is going to come from. And since offshore oil won't be available to the market until 10 years from now, and our consumption of energy is expected to grow by 5% by then, the best we can hope for is a break even fool's errand, still short the 19% and still dependent on foreign oil. The numbers are actually worse when you factor in the astonishing truth that US oil is not really OUR oil. Once it is pumped out of the ground, it belongs to Exxon Mobil, who can sell it to China, India or anyone else. Corporations are not patriots, concerned for US national security. They are answerable only to their stockholders and don't care where the product is sold or where the profit dollars come from. Obama's position is to get off oil entirely by making a drastic transition to alternative fuels and renewables and reducing fossil fuel demand. This is the only sensible direction to go and shows bold leadership, flying in the face of current public opinion, which supports offshore drilling. Obama knows that you can't cure an addiction to heroin by increasing the supply of heroin. That will only lead to complacency and reduce the sense of urgency required to make the difficult energy decisions that must be made to protect our national security.
Even McCain's perceived strengths turn out to be weaknesses. He attacks Obama for having a thin resume, when his own is deeply suspect. Obama had to overcome a troubled childhood with a single mother, excelling in private schools while competing with more privileged classmates.
McCain was born the son and grandson of Admirals and was handed an appointment to the Naval Academy based on his DNA, rather than academic excellence. He finished at the bottom of his class and would have been kicked out of the Academy on multiple occasions were it not for his father's revered status.
Obama gained entrance to Harvard Law School and became the first black editor of the Harvard LAW Review, the holy grail for law students everywhere.
McCain was handed a highly sought after F-15 fighter pilot slot, usually reserved for the top 10% of all Naval Academy graduates. He clearly hadn't earned that coveted slot, getting a free pass based on his last name and cheating a more deserving student out of that opportunity.
Although his time as a prisoner of war is clearly an indication of his courage, it doesn't necessarily translate into superior judgement in the ever shifting political climates of the modern world. By his own admission, he is not computer literate (Obama has already given a speech on the dangers of Cyber Terrorism, a subject clearly out of McCain's bandwidth) and he shows little interest in the economy (Obama was a part time law professor at the University of Chicago, renowned for its world class Economics department.)
More troubling is his stubborn adherence to "refuse to negotiate" with foreign countries like Iran. In a dangerous world which requires flexibility, creativity and out of the box thinking to come up with real solutions to complicated problems, McCain is not equipped to handle the task, falling back on Cold War style rhetoric and a World War II mindset. This obsession with the past will not help him meet the challenges of the modern world
Obama is someone of the modern world and possesses the requisite qualities needed to lead in 2008. He is clearly the superior candidate and deserves to be elected.