Obama: Bush A Misguided Commander In Chief

(AP)  Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama told New Hampshire voters Friday that President Bush grossly misunderstands his role as commander in chief.

"When President Bush says, 'I just want to give the commanders what they want, listen to the generals,' he doesn't understand how we work here in America. Civilians control the military and we are supposed to set the mission for the generals and then the generals should carry out the mission," Obama said at an outdoor town hall meeting.

"The military has done all we asked. We just asked the wrong things of them. That's not their fault. That's the president's fault. And we've got to stop enabling him to do it."

He said, though, that negotiations might be pointless with some terrorists.

"There are only about 20,000 — let's say — activist extremists. I don't have the precise number, but it's in that range. Most intelligence estimates are there are 10,000 to 30,000 people who are actively involved in extremist movements," said Obama, a longtime critic of the war in Iraq. "We are not going to be able to negotiate with them. We have to hunt them down and take them out."

Earlier, in Hampton, Obama told voters the change in direction needed to end the war in Iraq begins with them.

"Change in America never starts from the top down. It starts from the bottom up," the first-term senator from Illinois told a crowd at an elementary school.

"The country is ready for change. It's hungry for change. If we put our shoulder against the wheel, we can move our country in a better direction. That's how we brought an end to segregation. ... That's how we brought an end to the Vietnam war, and that's how we'll bring an end to the war in Iraq."

He also said he opposed any move to withdraw from Afghanistan, saying Al Qaeda is gathering there and is a "tremendous threat."

"We haven't handled Afghanistan well because we've been distracted," Obama said.

The latest University of New Hampshire poll for CNN and WMUR-TV of likely Democratic primary voters, released this week, gave Obama 25 percent to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 33 percent. It's a gap that has remained nearly constant in state polls.

Republicans said Obama doesn't have enough experience.

"So far, Barack Obama has demonstrated inexperience and inconsistency on the important issues facing America, including fighting the war on terror and funding our nation's troops," said Amber Wilkerson, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman.

[nottellin1]

Randy, how my comments could be misconstrued as fascination is beyond me. You are the one the puts out all the little tidbits of your existence for the world to see. It%u2019s not like I save yours or anyone else%u2019s posts because apparently unlike you I have a very full life. A life that is probably well beyond your means and way above social status. Slime on Randy.

[randalds]

Ooooh Randy, did I hit a nerve? I don%u2019t know if I should be flattered or insulted that Randy thinks I am a man.
Posted by nottellin1 at 10:45 AM : Jul 23, 2007

I'm not entirely sure you know one way or another......

I still can't figure out your fascination for me and my life though....don't you have one of your own? If not then swing by the 99 cent store and pick one up, because even a life from there has to be better then the one you think you have if you've nothing better to do then follow me around like a lost puppy. I already have two dogs, I don't need another pet. Thank you.

Shoo....

[kansas1946]

"Republicans said Obama doesn't have enough experience."
**************************
This is the biggest joke of the day. Experience doing what. There are not too many high-school seniors that couldn't do a better job than who is in the Whitehouse right now.
In fact, it is really hard to imagine anyone doing a worse job.
Obama is so superior in wisdom, wit, intellegence, thoughtfulness, leadership ability, etc..etc..etc.., to Bush that it should be a crime to mention their names in the same sentence.

[realpatriot1]

Prinzowhales,

I wasn't complaining about the lack of citations, just pointing out that I couldn't assess the charges without them.

As far as the 20-30,000 issue, what's relevant to me is whether he was talking about insurgents or Al Quada. I'm not going to go back and read the speech again, but that didn't jump out at me when I read it. I'm sure he meant l Quaeda before we redeploy.

Regarding Barlow, I'm sure there are a lot of members of Congress unwilling to open a can of worms with Pakastan. I guess I don't understand why you're singling out a freshman Senator for criticism for something that happened in 1989.

I don't think he has to specifically discuss that related topic to speak to the overall issue of non-prolifieration.

Well, I have to catch my van pool and my home computer is on the blink, so this is the last word from me on this topic. I'm sure that won't be a disappointment.

[prinzowhales]

The CFR speech I posted quoted his call for an increase in the size of the military--you complained about a lack of citations.

The whistleblower site gives the Washington Regime's hiding from Congress proliferation problems with regard to Pakistan. Obama ignores this and makes pretty talk about his concern about nuclear proliferation as if past policy did not exist. A scant few Congressmen and Senators have stood by the whistleblower and none seem too keen on looking into the breaking of federal law in our relations with Pakistan any more than they are with regard to Israel.

The whistleblower is Richard Barlow, the year 1989, more than ample time for justice to have been done by Democrats or Republicans. Yet another example of what Mad Dog Albright described as the 'great strength of American foreign policy--it didn't chance with the party in the White House.'

The 20-30 thousand reference is taken from the article above...actually I misquoted it...he said "twenty" in a ten to thirty thousand range that 'we [Americans] have to hunt down and take out.'

[iceman_1960]

"USA's PLEDGE 2 THE WORLD GIVEN BY JFK!!"
- Posted by lars008 at 09:23 AM : Jul 23, 2007

How many Kennedy offspring are fighting in Iraq ?

Go to hell.

[realpatriot1]

Prinzowhales,

I didn't miss the part of the speech about expanding our ground forces and I agree that we need to so next time we have to commit troops we'll commit sufficient troops and won't need to call upon the National Guard.

I don't let the U.N. do my thinking for mre like you apparently allow a single linguist to think for you. The fact is that the U.N. is where linguists at the top of their game end up. I'm assuming until proven otherwise that Kofi Annan has greater linguistic resources than you.

I didn't read the post regarding the whistleblower trying to tell Congress about the Khan network, would that be Sibel Edmunds or someone else?

At any rate, I don't get how you're blaming Obama for that so I can't assess the validity of it. Same goes for the remark you attribute to him about taking out 20-30,000 insurgents.

All I have to go on is your misrepresentation of his CFR speech which was nothing like what you alleged.

[lars008-2009]

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.

non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair's bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770
Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm
thank you demonic-rats%u2026
New Video From Al Qaeda Number Two
"You must be patient and steadfast," he says. "Rejoice, for victory is near, with Allah's permission, and the herds of crusaders have begun to split up and their sole concern has become searching for a way out."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/new-video-from-.html
Sentencing them, Judge Charles Openshaw said the men had engaged in "cyber jihad", encouraging others to kill "kuffars" or non-believers.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070705142313.zr9n5g5g&show_article=1
45 Muslim doctors planned US terror raids
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/05/nterror405.xml

[prinzowhales]

realpatriot1--I'm glad to see you admit that you let the UN do your thinking for you. While not a student of Persian, I have had the opportunity to study Russian at Defense Language Institute and am able to follow the word and phrase translation of Ahmadinejad's words by a linguist familiar with the language. There was no way, shape or form in which a legitimate error could have been made by the MSM to justify the twist put on his words. This was right out of the same propaganda dumpster that gave us the lie about Iranian Jews having to wear a special armband, WMDs in Iraq, Niger yellowcake and the like.

[prinzowhales]

realpatriot1-- Perhaps you missed this from his CFR speech--". . . .That%u2019s why I strongly support the expansion of our ground forces by adding 65,000 soldiers to the Army and 27,000 Marines."

Did you even read the link about the whistleblower who is still punished for trying to tell Congress about Khan and the Pakistani proliferation? This was the real policy... Obama--and much of this tame Congress is content to ignore this...there was already sufficient legal mechanisms to deal with proliferation--just a lack of will in Congress to reel in an Administration that chose to ignore proliferation and then cover it up.

His recent words on Iraq advise us that he wants us to "take out" some 20-30 thousand insurgents.
Obviously, that is an open-ended mission. The kow-tow to the Zionists was too plain for further comment.