I think you'll find that to be a DC9 Captain at a US legacy carrier, he's flown every thing with wings as an FO (Not to mention that I believe he's an ex U2 Pilot!!).
Oh FFS are all you lot as thick as your president
. Successfully operating a modern airliner, on a significantly diverse route structure is not about whether you have lots of Chuck Yeager'ish skill flying a Beaver/DC9/737/U2 aircraft in the US. Its about
relevant domain experience, that's what many of our new DEC's are missing, it takes time to get, pure and simple. There is no doubt its not brain surgery, but you would not give a brain surgeon the job of heading up an orthopedics department.