“I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

So said Gen. Wesley Clark, acting as a surrogate for Barack Obama’s campaign, invoking John McCain’s military service against him in a personal attack, the very kind of politics Obama says he abhors.

But how about this: when McCain was offered early release by the North Vietnamese because his father was an admiral, he felt honor bound to refuse and spent an additional five years in prison.

Has Obama done anything close that indicates character? Toughness of will? Honor?

Please.

As for Wesley Clark, he is widely despised in the military as an arrogant showboat. In 2003 the New Yorker profiled him.

Shelton, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was Clark’s boss in 1999 when Clark was unceremoniously told that he was being removed from his position as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. “I’ve known Wes for a long time,” Shelton said.

“I will tell you the reason he came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. . . . Wes won’t get my vote.” Shelton has refused to explain how he came to his conclusion.