Obama Defends Foreign Policy, Attacks Bush, McCain
Yesterday Bush played the Nazi card, insinuating before the Israeli Parliament that Obama would negotiate with terrorist groups. Furor ensued.
Today Obama struck back.
"After almost eight years, I did not think I could be surprised by anything George Bush says, but I was wrong," Obama, avec flag pin, said.
"The president did something that presidents don't do..that is launch a political attack targeted toward the domestic audience...in front of a foreign delegation."
Obama also went on offense, attacking Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for their foreign policy positions, which he called one and the same. "I want to be perfectly clear," he said, "if George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America, that is a debate I am happy to have any time, any place. And it is a debate that I will win."
Obama called his approach to foreign policy "tough diplomacy" and also said he never claimed he would negotiate with terrorist groups like Hamas.
A couple thoughts on this entire exchange: First, it is interesting how forcefully Bush, with his sub-30 point approval rating, can influence the presidential race. And there is no question he knew what he was doing. Second, the Obama camp clearly views the perception of Obama being weak in his support of Israel as a soft-spot. Consequently, Obama has been on a all out media tour to promote his support of Israel. (Obama has recently given interviews on Israel to the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, The New Republic's Martin Peretz, and the New York Times' David Brooks.)
Third, that being said, Bush's remarks may actually be a gift for Obama since they shift the campaign narrative from his big loss in West Virginia and have unified the party behind him (even Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) criticized Bush), as MSNBC's First Read noted.
Fourth, even so, does Obama want his campaign to be defined by his position on Israel? Bush certainly framed the campaign debate yesterday, it will be interesting to see how long this dialogue plays out.
Comments:
Posted 05/16/2008 04:32pm with
Bush may find his Hitler remarks backfiring on him considering his own well documented family history of appeasement, support and money laundering for Hitler:
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=878…
http://newsmine.org/archive/cabal-elite/families/bush-dyn…
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/012303A.ma.dead.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0925-01.htm
http://ecosyn.us/Bush-Hitler/Bush-Hitler.html
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/ROG309A.html
Posted 05/18/2008 10:05am with
Okay … you just scored a 3 point jumpshot.
Yeah, that a 3rd rated, lameduck president could actually frame the direction of an election he is not running in is a coup d’état against the Democrats.
Unfortunately, Obama hasn’t a cabinet assembled to work out the finer points of the discussion and the repugs could be inline to intercept a handoff and go to the goal for another layup shot. It could very well be a war of attrition on the political court with the repugs slowly grinding away at Obama and the Democratic political machinery.
It’s gonna take the entire Democratic Party to work together to establish Obama with the credentials necessary to fire slamming broadsides at the repug smear mechanisms and draw McCain into the fray too. Otherwise, McCain gets a free ride in the election process while Obama and the Democrats get beaten to a pulp.
Posted 05/18/2008 06:50pm with
McCain has already defined what kind of president he will be.
The following quotes of John McCain’s especially concern me. Maybe even more than McCain’s 5X mistake about ‘Shiite Al Qaeda’ within one month, even though repeatedly corrected.
“And I believe that the success will be fairly easy” and “There’s no doubt in my mind that… we will be welcomed as liberators.” [3/24/03]
“I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past… I don’t believe it’s going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991.” [9/15/02]
“There’s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias. So I think they can probably get along.” [4/23/03]
“Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.” [12/8/05 (Exactly one year before violence in Iraq peaked)]
“By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and -women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom.” [05/115/08]
The man even wants to kick Russia out of the G8: http://www.newsweek.com/id/134317
John McCain has repeatedly shown a disconnect between what he’d like to believe and facts on the ground or global realities.
While I respect Mr. McCain’s service and what he went through as a POW, I have serious concern about his actions upon his return. He, with the advantage of having an admiral for a father, was not prosecuted as other returning POW for collaborating with the enemy. Later, Mr. McCain headed the effort the shut down all investigation into remaining POW/MIA in order to open up trade with Vietnam. His father-in-law immediately opened up a multi-billion dollar beer industry there.
http://www.aiipowmia.com/sea/schanberg_mccain.html
I also have concerns about his mental fitness as well, specially since he will not release his old medical records even though the term PSTD was not in use as an official diagnosis when he first returned. The one time he did release these records to a journalist, much was blacked out. He later released them in 1999 to a physician who wrote him a clean bill of health without the benefit of a personal examination but rather on whatever records he was provided.
“Among U.S. servicemen taken captive during the Korean War, as many as nine out of 10 survivors may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental disorders more than 35 years after their release, psychologist Patricia B. Sutker of the New Orleans Veterans Administration Medical Center and her colleagues report in the January AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY.”
‘Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, can result from wartime trauma such as suffering wounds or witnessing others being hurt. Symptoms include irritability or outbursts of anger, sleep difficulties, trouble concentrating, extreme vigilance and an exaggerated startle response.’
http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSN172824…
What are the odds of McCain not suffering from some degree of PTSD?
I do not say any of this lightly as I have worked with vets for over thirty years to help them get their benefits for PTSD. My father served in the Army for 33 yrs as a CWO4. All three of my brothers also served, two in Vietnam.
But I have even more concerns about his current voting record towards our young veterans of today. His lack of support for their medical care is appalling.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/9559
On a final note, it is worth reading what Col. Hackworth, the most respected officer to ever serve in Vietnam had to say about John McCain:
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/cin_hacke…
“David H. Hackworth died in June 2005, he was a much-decorated and highly unconventional former career Army officer who became a combat legend in Vietnam. Col. Hackworth received 78 combat awards — including a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and eight Purple Hearts — during his 25-year military career which spanned the Korean and Vietnam wars..”