“Who among us understands what to do about Pakistan” Joe Biden asks a good question. No plausible contender for the presidency has much foreign-policy experience. On the Democratic side, Mr Biden himself, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Bill Richardson, a former ambassador to the United Nations, are both experts. But neither will win the nomination. Among Republicans, Senator John McCain has lots of experience but poor prospects. The front-runners are less solidly prepared. Yet as the news from Baghdad, Beirut, Karachi and Annapolis often reminds voters, the next president will have no time to learn on the job. And the voters care: the Iraq war and security issues generally top their list of concerns.

　　Of the first-tier candidates, Hillary Clinton probably knows the most about foreign affairs. Name a country or a crisis and she can shoot back with a carefully formulated position on it. But her experience of grappling with foreign powers is slighter than she often implies. She makes much of her speech to the UN women's conference in Beijing in 1995, but a president has to grapple with tougher problems than that.

　　Of the other leading Democrats, Barack Obama has probably thought the hardest about foreign policy. When replying to questions, he tries to answer them, rather than simply shooting out scripted sound-bites. He says he will talk directly to America's enemies, a promise Mrs Clinton calls naive.

“我们中有谁知道该为巴基斯坦做些什么？”约·毕丹提了一个好问题。没有一个能说会道的总统职位竞争者在制定外交政策方面有丰富的经验。在民主党方面，领导参议院外交关系委员会的毕丹先生和前驻联合国大使比尔·理查森两人都是专家。但是，他们两人谁都不会赢得总统候选人的提名。在共和党中，约翰·麦凯恩参议员具有丰富的经验，但是前景黯淡。领先的人在这方面的准备并不充分。然而，来自巴格达、贝鲁特、卡拉奇和安纳波利斯的消息经常提醒选民，下一个总统将没有时间边学边干。选民们普遍关心的首要事宜是伊拉克战争和安全问题。

　　在第一梯队的候选人中， 希拉里·克林顿可能是最懂外交事务的。说出一个国家或一场危机，她能马上用谨慎而公式化的观点做出回答。但是，她与世界强国打交道的经历比她经常说的要逊色一些。她经常说到1995年在北京联合国妇女大会上的发言。但是，一位总统要解决的问题比那要艰难得多。

　　在领先的民主党人中，巴拉克·奥巴马可能在外交政策方面冥思苦想过了。面对提问，他努力回答问题而不是简单地照本宣科。他说他将直接和美国的敌人谈判。克林顿夫人称这个承诺太天真了。

• 6小时掌握学英语的秘诀！——点击看答案
• 专治男女记不住单词的秘密