Countering Clinton, Obama Says He's Committed to Ending War
(CBS)
CASPER, WYO. -- Today, Barack Obama stuck to his campaign’s promise to respond to every criticism by Hillary Clinton. During a town hall meeting here, Obama addressed the Clinton campaign’s latest criticisms of his Iraq withdrawal plan, which were based on comments a campaign adviser made to the BBC.
“Senator Clinton used this to try to imply that I wasn’t serious about bringing this war to an end. I just have to mention this because I don’t want anybody here to be confused,” Obama said.
“I was opposed to this war in 2002. If it had been up to me we would have never been in this war. It was because of George Bush with an assist from Hillary Clinton and John McCain that we entered into this war. A war that should have never been authorized, a war that should have never been waged.”
Samantha Power, the Obama campaign adviser who resigned today, recently suggested in an interview with the BBC that Obama's plan to that withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months is a "best-case scenario" that he'll reassess if he becomes president.
"He will, of course, not rely on some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. senator," she said. "He will rely upon a plan - an operational plan - that he pulls together in consultation with people who are on the ground to whom he doesn't have daily access now, as a result of not being the president," Powers said.
Meantime, Obama took every opportunity available to go after Clinton and occasionally John McCain during the question & answer session. He accused Clinton of conjuring up the “politics of fear” with the “3 a.m. ad” that aired in Texas.
“That was designed to feed into your fears, right?,” Obama asked, “What do people think I’m going to do? I’m going to answer the phone and I will find out what’s going on and I won’t be browbeaten into launching a war that wasn’t necessary.”
Obama said his presidential campaign should be looked at by those who question his experience.
“Look who’s run the best campaign. Look who’s managed this campaign from scratch. That’s worth taking a look at. Look at what we’ve built from scratch to compete against people who have been building this thing for 20, 30 years, and we’ve done just fine.”
Senator Obama has always said that he will surround himself with people who may not always agree with him but he will listen.
Most academics are proud of their own area of expertise and may be a bit naive about newspapers or media that ask them to get together for one thing (Powers was/is on a book tour in England).
In my opinion, regarding Iraq, her answer was a feasible and educated one. How can one declaratively answer a hypothetical, future tense without sounding ridiculous?
It might have been better had she pulled out a crystal ball and waved her hands over it.
Whoever wins the White House will have a vastly different Iraq than we have now.
Regarding NAFTAgate, if you watch this clip from the oldest and most venerated Cdn. TV networks, you will see that Obama''s explanation was substantiated.
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/vsu/wmv-hi/macdonald-obama-memo080303.wmv
Unlike the American press who do not make the distinction that the Cdn. Consulate in Chicago approached a Professor of Economics for a meeting, the Canadians have.
The Globe & Mail in Canada has QUOTED Harper''s top aide as stating that it was the Clinton campaign who called to reassure the Cdn. gov''t.
MEMOgate, as the Canadians might call it, won''t be going away any time soon.
Part 2
Outside from the obvious problems caused by Senator Clinton aligning herself & endorsing Senator McCain%u2019s %u201Cbona fides%u201D while she tears into her Democratic opponent, Senator Obama, the Republican attack machine can far more easily blame and USE her as an excuse for any dirt that they want to throw covertly.
Today on CNN Morning, a Republican strategist accused the Clinton campaign of creating a Rezko website and gave the website domain.
When my son was young, one of my primary responsibilities was to teach him that his choices had consequences and that he needed to consider the consequences BEFORE he acted on his choice.
Senator Clinton is attempting to change the rules; or, perhaps it is more accurate to say that she & her campaign changes themselves as they go along.
I not only agree with Howard Dean, I applaude him. He is the wall that the Clintons'' and their co-horts have not been able to crash through and they are out to destroy his credibility.
However, both my son and Howard Dean know that choices have consequences.
Both states were repeatedly warned that they were not to move up their primaries and if they did so, there would be consequences for violating the rules.
However, in a sense of fairness to all candidates, I would like to see each candidate%u2019s 2004,2005,2006 and after April 15th 2007 Income Tax returns.
To the best of my knowledge, neither Senator Clinton nor McCain have done so yet.
Also, for the sake of transparency, I would like to see EACH OF THEM make public their Appointment Books for the same time frame.
Since Senator Clinton is touting 35 years of experience, AND loaned her campaign 5 million from their JOINT account, I think it is only fair to ask for Phone Logs, Meeting Memos, etc from her White House years.
Also, since Senator McCain has no problem SAYING he is a Lobbying Reformist BUT has his Senate Office & his campaign being run by Lobbyists, I think that he should be willing to have those parties provide a list of clients that they lobby for, so that the watchdog groups can monitor any abnormalities.
When the unflattering NY Times story broke, McCain asked and answered ONLY ONCE, just hours after the story broke and has refused since.
The Washington Post and other publications have done follow up articles.
This goes MORE to McCain''s JUDGMENT than any particular wrongdoing.
And, since Senator Clinton also takes both Lobbyist and PAC monies, a similar list would be needed to provide FULL transparency.
For this educated voter, there is a VAST difference between DOUBLE speak and DOUBLE doings and actual, factual information for the voters to elect their President.
"While Hillary Clinton battles Barack Obama on the campaign trail, a judge in Los Angeles is quietly preparing to set a trial date in a $17 million fraud suit that aims to expose an alleged culture of widespread corruption by the Clintons and the Democratic Party."
Read full article:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56868
And what about her top adviser?:
Mark Penn is not just a heavy hitting PR person, he''s an uscrupulous PR person, giving advice to clients such as the tobacco industry, instructing them on how to target inner city minorities via smokers rights groups, blackwater on how to effectively respond to questions from the 911 commission, and advising subprime lending groups on how to move forward with their agendas and deflect fallout.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6213
Voters need to educate themselves before casting their final vote.
Obama ''08
Unlike his opponents Barack Obama has made the significant decision not to accept campaign contributions from lobbyists and political action committees. It is Barack Obama%u2019s judgment that the President of the United States should be elected without being beholden to money peddlers in Washington or anywhere else. Barack Obama raises the money necessary for his campaign for president directly from the people to whom he is accountable, people like you and me. Barack Obama has a love of America and its people and a belief that together ordinary Americans can do extraordinary things, like 1 million ordinary Americans giving $25 each to raise $25 million dollars.
REMINDER: Quotes from Barack Obama''s book, Dreams Of My Father:
"I found A SOLACE in nursing A PERVASIVE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AND ANIMOSITY AGAINST MY MOTHER''S RACE".
"The emotion between the races could never be pure..... the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart."
"I ceased to advertise my mother''s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites"
"never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn''t speak to my own. It was into my father''s image, the black man, son of Africa, that I''d packed all the attributes I sought in myself..".
"That hate hadn''t gone away," he wrote, blaming "white people %u2014 some cruel, some ignorant, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives."
"There were enough of us on campus to constitute a tribe, and when it came to hanging out many of us chose to function like a tribe, staying close together, traveling in packs," he wrote. "It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names"
"I had grown accustomed, everywhere, to suspicions between the races."
NOW - WHO ISN''T ABOVE USING OTHERS TO GET WHAT THEY WANT.
By the way, the inuendo about Rezko is getting old. If you have factual information, please share it with us. Otherwise, you are playing the game that the Clintons want you to play with regard to the Rezko trial. In the meantime, if you''re concerned about Obama and Rezko, then you should also be concerned about Hillary and Norman Hsu or the Clintons and Vince Foster. Their list is a lot longer than his. Before you start pointing out Obama''s issues with Rezko, go down the long list of issues that the Clintons have. And by the way, if you know why so many people associated with their adminstrations in Arkansas and in the White House are now dead, you can share that with us also.
Lets not forget, A lot of Men and Women have lost there lives in this Iraq war, because of the "YES" vote.
Better prepared to be commander-in-chief. I don''t think so.
To this day I can''t beleive that Sen. Clinton didn''t read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq before she voted "Yes" in 2002. This vote gave President Bush the POWER to use military force against Saddam Hussein and Iraq.
Why didn''t she read this important report to get a better understanding of what was going on?
What a great leader she would make. Doesn''t bother to read very important report''s Then says President Bush lied about the Report. When did she read it. Where is the experience in this matter.
Pointing the finger at Bush, when she should point it at herself.
Obama 08
-Billing-gate, Hillary Clinton''''s missing law-billing records. Those records -- which raised questions about Mrs. Clinton''''s role in the Castle Grande deal -- were subpoenaed in 1994. They were missing until early 1996, when they turned up in a White House room next to her office. She says she doesn''''t know how they got there.
-Cattlegate, Hillary Clinton''''s mysterious ability to turn a $1,000 investment into a $100,000 profit on cattle futures, a feat experts say was virtually impossible in normal trading.
-Castle Grande, a real-estate scheme that federal regulators say was a sham. A federal inspector general''''s report found Hillary Clinton drew up the legal papers that were used to improperly funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to Seth Ward, father-in-law of her ex-law partner Webster Hubbell.
Obama 08
Obama''s awestruck admirers will soon realize that magic, charisma and oratorical skills are NOT the best credentials to qualify a person to the toughest job in the world.
It has been confusing for me why he got this much adulation. He must have dome something VERY HEROIC in the past, but to my dismay there is none (Is being very good community organizer a remarkable accomplishment? If so then a lot of people are qualified to be Prez of the USA))
So Obama supporters stop this illusion of seeing Obama as the saviour of the world. Get real people!!!
Are the American people naive enough to put these problems on the shoulder of Obama (an untested neophyte politician who doesn''t even have in his resume a REMARKABLE accomplishment that would prepare him for the toughest job in the world?)
For all his faults, it cannot be denied that during President Clinton''s time America''s image abroad was good and the economy was robust (those were the good old times and seems like only a fantasy now). This was a REAL accomplishment and don''t you think Hillary had a hand in President Clinton''s very good handling of the reins of the government?
In this DIRE times, I wouldn;t mind of a co-presidency of these two brightest minds to make decisions for America.
On the other hand, IF ONLY it is NORMAL times, then I would vote for Obama just to have a breath of fresh air (but it is not so I would not gamble for a neophyte)
I thought about her good before I see her real colors now. she is a shrewd politician and will do anything to get into whitehouse again because she got the taste of whitehouse before.
clinton and camp is allowed to label all LIES and deceits possible without any cross-questioning from the media.
media seems to have gone feminist in this campaign by being soft of a woman candidate.
Tax returns.
Obama or McCain: both honorable candidates who will lead with integrity. Both are better than the other alternative that will say/do anything for her power quest.
Please tell me when did Obama first vote "NO" on the war? The war on Iraq was declared in March 2003, and Obama was not a U.S. Senator until January 2005. So again, when did he first vote "NO" on the war?
His one vote gets my no vote. Not because he was totally wrong but but because he''s a lier to the people. Stop the double speak Obama!
Just like his NAFTA promises.
Beware of Obama. He is a habitual liar.
%u201CThe Hussein Dynamic%u201D at http://savagepolitics.com.
Brilliant writing that goes beyond what the MSM is feeding us!!!!
-
by elsylee28
March 10, 2008 1:54 PM PDT
- BTW I found a fantastic article...A MUST read for EVERYONE
-
Reply to this comment
-
See all 38 Comments%u201CThe Hussein Dynamic%u201D at http://savagepolitics.com.
Brilliant writing that goes beyond what the MSM is feeding us!!!!