Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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Obama's Free Ride in Middle East Coming to an End?
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
8:03 AM
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Barack Obama has yet to commit the kind of gaffe that would reverse the glowing media narrative about him, but his trip abroad has continued to expose some major weaknesses.
First, his stunning admission that -- even knowing what he knows now, he would not have supported the surge -- continues to confuse and baffle. Here's the controversial exchange:
Moran: "'[T]he surge of U.S. troops, combined with ordinary Iraqis' rejection of both al Qaeda and Shiite extremists have transformed the country. Attacks are down more than 80% nationwide. U.S. combat casualties have plummeted, five this month so far, compared with 78 last July, and Baghdad has a pulse again.' If you had to do it over again, knowing what you know now, would you -- would you support the surge?"
Obama: "No, because -- keep in mind that -"
Moran: "You wouldn't?"
Obama: "Well, no, keep -- these kinds of hypotheticals are very difficult . Hindsight is 20/20. I think what I am absolutely convinced of is that at that time, we had to change the political debate, because the view of the Bush administration at that time was one that I just disagreed with."
Moran: "And so, when pressed, Barack Obama says he still would have opposed the surge." (ABC's "World News," 7/21/08) This, of course, opens the door for many follow-up questions that will no doubt plague Obama for days to come. Already, columnists and pundits are weighing-in. Washington Post’s Dan Balz said: “Obama's opposition to the troop ‘surge’ that has helped quell violence and U.S. casualties -- and that McCain vociferously supported -- leaves plenty of room for further questions about his judgment at that moment.”
And Politico’s Jonathan Martin sees a political calculation here: “To have said anything other than ‘no,’ would've brought further howls of "flip-flop" and no small amount of grief from his base. But the CW on the Surge has gotten to a point where "no" is tough to explain.”
Obama will hold a press conference to "explain" his statement today. Will the press let him off the hook ... again???
But Obama's bizarre statement on the surge was just one glimmer into his personality. Some leadership books will advice you to pretend you're already in the job you want. Obama seems to agree; his team continues to act as if he's already president. At least, that's what this exchange reported by Politico implies:
“It is not going to be a political speech,” said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. “When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.
“But he is not president of the United States,” a reporter reminded the adviser.
"Not yet" -- they no doubt thought ...
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a pass on his remarks regarding Maliki? Since when did a politician, much less one who has yet to secure the party's nomination, make policy with a foreign leader?
George Bush is STILL POTUS whether people like it or not. Obama has absolutely no right to be claiming to make policy or agreements with any foreign leader. |
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Obama is looking more and more like a Manchurian candidate everyday. He cannot speak off the cuff and has to have everything written down on a teleprompter. I just don't see an original thought from him. |
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I am not surprised at his remarks.
If McCain had not called him out, he would have NEVER visited those troops again. That right there says it all. He had NO intention of going. He only reacts when pressured, rather than doing the RIGHT THING all along.
He does not care about them. He wants to be the leader of the military, yet is so arogant that he cannot spend time with the troops, talk to the generals and the experts on the ground there, and actually get a first hand look. So instead he does what? Takes a day trip and cannot even admitt STILL to the progress being made!!! He still cannot even give the US troops the FULL recognition that they deserve for their efforts and instead places the success elsewhere.
He is really so self righteous and wants the vote of the anti-war movement so bad that he will STILL maintain that the surge was a horrible idea.
Hmmm...less violence, a safer Iraq for its innocent civilians and the US troops serving there...yeah. That's just terrible!
Way to go Barry O! Keep showing your true colors. |
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It is a weird world. The United States just had a smashing victory in Iraq over the last few years based on the surge, The Sunni awakening, and the smashing of Shiite militias. The US is now poised to move significant troops out of Iraq with the possibility of removing all but a small number by the end of 2010.
And this is what we get. One presidential candidate still says the surge did not work and he wouldn't support it even though he is saying we can pull out because of the great success and stability of Iraq. Huhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
One presidential candidate. The one who was the biggest backer of the strategy that was successful. That should be treated like a great heroic figure for his support. Who now is very happy, but wants to remain skeptical, because all the gains are still fragile. Of course he wants to pull out most of the troops as well. He is on the defensive. Huhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
I think the world we live in has gone completely bonkers. I will be honest. I am getting sick of this presidential campaign and the awful partisanship. If we can't even form a truth and a straight narrative on something so clear and evident, where are we.
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advisors is another indication of Obama's inexperience. If Obama had any idea of what is happening in the world he would have already formed his policy and would only need those who re-inforced those idealogies. As he has no idea what he is doing his need to surround himself with so many "advisors" is a true indication of his inability to lead.
All those advisors is further proof he is nothing more than an empty suit being a puppet.
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POTUS why doesn't he just make a stop in Iran while he's in the ME? Maybe he could hold a rally there too. |
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Goodness, Obama is just so eloquent when he has to speak off the cuff, isn't he? And referring to hindsight being 20/20--does that apply to the war in general, or does he get to pick and choose where to apply it so that it is only advantageous to his viewpoint? |
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but no time to debate Sen. John McCain. We know where Sen. Barack Obama's priorities are. Just like his spotty voting record, absent. |
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You need to get some things straight...Let's see...Gen. Petreaus is leading the surge and has quoted its success. We had 18 benchmarks to meet to declare this a success. Our military has achieved 15 of them (12 of which were this year alone).
Do you have the ability to recognize ANY good news coming out of the Middle East? Do you?
Maybe you should just join up with wack job Sunsara Taylor or better yet, that other lunatic whom had the gall to shout down Petreaus as he was giving his assessment, Medea Benjamin. |
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The guys on the ground doing the heavy lifting's assessment of what is going on overseas than people sitting around in offices over here, especially ones that NEVER go over to see what is happening first hand. |
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Emphasizing the war, in particular the surge, is going to be a mistake.
While I can understand the impulses of conservative pundits to crow about the surge (though I think that is an overly simplistic analysis), given that most Americans would like to see troops out and the war in Iraq ended, and given that the reduction in violence and PM Maliki's comments are more favorable circumstances to Obama's position on removing troops than McCain's stated preference to maintain a presence there for the indefinite future. |
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"There's increasing quiet in Iraq, but that's happened because of our shift in strategy - the 'surge' had nothing to do with it."
Hey!! The shift in strategy WAS the surge! This person's statement was pure, unadulterated nonsense. BTW, Kimberly, does your "senior defense official" have a name or even a real rank? Or is he a fragment of your imagination?
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Craig, I do not think it is partisanship you are sick of. "Partisanship" is the MSM's favorite codeword to stomp on anyone they disagree with. What I, and I think you also, am really sick of is one group trying to silence the other by calling them divisive and partisan. As long as we have parties we will have partisans. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. What is bad is when we choose the party line without regard to the truth or to its effect on our society. And this is so without regard to which party is being spoken of. |
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I think Obama is a completely empty suit, so I'm tickled pink that we still have 4-odd months before the election.
He weakens every day, and it just has to have the MSM chewing their fingernails (perhaps that's why half of them are carrying BO's luggage for him on this trip). |
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"What is bad is when we choose the party line without regard to the truth or to its effect on our society."
Very good point. I know I have been blinded in the past. |
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claiming THEY are in charge of any photos and comments which come from Obama. Since when does a campaign dictate what is and isn't reported? Obama has a lot more to lose by alienating the press than the press has to lose by alienating Obama.
This dictatorship and supression of the press should be an early warning for what is to come IF Obama were to win the general election.
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Obama exposed! No speech writers and he sounds like a.. well pathetic excuse of a candidate that is so full of himself he can't admit when he's wrong and acts like he didn't hold that position in the first place. I call that lying. 143 days of experience is not going to cut it folks,the world is waiting and counting on the USA to do what she always does and be there as a shining city on a hill. This nation needs a leader and the the world demands it. Obama's judgement could very well get us into WW111. Who does he think he is? King,because I have my doubts God knows him personally. |
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Other than Hal Doofus and MMuttt, you have to be the most delusional person posting on TH. Please try to quote proven facts, not innuendo and conjecture. |
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to debate McCain except in an environment that will ensure Obama receives softball questions. Are a majority of Americans really looking for a timid fraidy cat for president? |
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the words most descriptive of Obama's political persona. |
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Your wacko. Period. Who is this senior guy at the pentagon? Wesley Clarke? lOLOL~! Have you ever even been around a mitary perosn? I don't mean watching an Officer and a Gentleman for the 1,000 time. I mean really knowing who they are, and what they do for a living?
The surge worked. To say otherwise is proving that your an idiot. |
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Micormanage the war? Oh please. Try it. It worked so well in Vietnam and it worked so well under Carter.
MISTER obama, you may think your a commander in chief, but unless you listen to those that have experience, you'll go down in history amoung the worst of the worst. Period. I don't care if your a rockstar. I want someone in office who understands boots on the ground.
McCain/Romney 08. The RIGHT choice. |
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MY
is that for 8 years or his 10 years ?????
He has been "acting" as if he is POTUS: he is so delusional. No concept of Reality:
"change" is his ability to twist and alter facts without blinking
"Hope" is that the USA voters are too stupid to notice or catch on to him: |
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Found another intereting article How NAjaf International airport just opened in Iraq, I got this off the Dept. Of Defense Website, Oh by the way, DOD is at the Pentagon!!!
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50558 |
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Barack Obama is so arrogant - I HOPE THE MILITARY HEAR HIS REMARKS LOUD AND CLEAR.
I am disgusted to have been subjected to this side show of incompentence and arrogance.
Maliki would be dead if it were not for George W. Bush - now he wants to distance himself to prepare for the Iraqi elections but if a terrorist bomb hit his office building he would be jumping into Bush or McCain's arms - not into Obama's that is for sure.
This know nothing, do nothing Senator and the other two standing beside him can stay there in the Middle East until January 2009 when McCain takes the oath of office.
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Obama
The NEW WORLD LEADER. infalible expert in all things:
MISSED the Balkan's trip and what no NEW POLICY for the issues in the Balkans>
HE is slowing down::::
giggle, he actually thinks he is POTUS already he even had the Presidential Seal Personalized:
Obama's "CHANGE" is twisting and changing the facts without blinking.
"HOPE" is that the voters are too stupid to notice or catch on. |
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Dale I agree with you. I am not naive enough to believe that partisanship has not always existed, but it is very harmful when it stands in the way of truth.
Here is my narrative of the war.
The truth is that when the war started the Bush administration did not fully understand the political situation on the ground. They made a number of early strategic blunders that let Al Quaeda get an increasing toehold in the country and nearly started a civil war between Sunni and Shiite that would have been curtains for the US presence. John McCain early on established a strategy to dump Donald Rumsfeld, increase the troop presence and come to an arrangement with the Sunni's for security (The last one did not gett added till about 2005). Bush stuck with Rumsfeld until 2006 when the election of the Dems in Congress made him finally decide that real action would need to be done to save the war(You see the 2006 dem election did do something good). he put General Gate and Patreous in command. |
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Patreous had some success in Mosul with setting Sunni's against Al Quaeda and they were ready to expand that strategy since Al Quaeda was now butchering Sunnis. The surge complemented this strategy and proved to the Sunnis that we would defend them, especially in Baghdad. When the surge started showing success, the Iranians decided to derail it by using the Mahdi army to break off the south of the country. Iran though overplayed its hand and the Shiites rebelled against them and helped drive the Mahdi army out of Basra with US support. With the Mahdi army now just another political group, Iraq's week central leader Maliki was able to approach the sunnis and kurds with real political reforms. In the past month this success has created a political consensus that the US must now start thinging about ramping down its roll in Iraq though there is still confusion in the government about how much support will be needed. The current situation is stable but still very fragile as the Sunni's kurds, and various Shiite factions work out power sharing and revenue sharing. Iran is still a major factor and the US will be needed somewhat to curb them and Al Quaed will be an issue on the margins for the next 2-3 years until they are fully erdicated.
That is as close the the truth as it can get. You see, Bush gets his lumps in the truth, but at the end the surge and its complementary political strategy was a success, even though the US will need a presence defined for some time. The dems also did some good. Their continual effort to lose the war at least forced Bush to move.
Does anyone disagree with this narrative? |
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WOW
The media is kneeling at the feet of god Obama |
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Couric: But talking microcosmically, did the surge, the addition of 30,000 additional troops ... help the situation in Iraq?
Obama: Katie, as … you've asked me three different times, and I have said repeatedly that there is no doubt that our troops helped to reduce violence. There's no doubt.
Couric: But yet you're saying … given what you know now, you still wouldn't support it … so I'm just trying to understand this.
Obama: Because … it's pretty straightforward. By us putting $10 billion to $12 billion a month, $200 billion, that's money that could have gone into Afghanistan. Those additional troops could have gone into Afghanistan. That money also could have been used to shore up a declining economic situation in the United States. That money could have been applied to having a serious energy security plan so that we were reducing our demand on oil, which is helping to fund the insurgents in many countries. So those are all factors that would be taken into consideration in my decision-- to deal with a specific tactic or strategy inside of Iraq.
Couric: And I really don't mean to belabor this, Senator, because I'm really, I'm trying … to figure out your position. Do you think the level of security in Iraq …
Obama: Yes.
Couric … would exist today without the surge?
Obama: Katie, I have no idea what would have happened had we applied my approach, which was to put more pressure on the Iraqis to arrive at a political reconciliation. So this is all hypotheticals. What I can say is that there's no doubt that our U.S. troops have contributed to a reduction of violence in Iraq. I said that-- not just today, not just yesterday, but I've said that-- previously. What that doesn't change is that we've got to have a different strategic approach if we're going to make America as safe as possible.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/obama_ spars_with_couric_over_s.php |
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Nobama must have wanted another killing field. He doesn't have a good answer for not supporting the President and Senator McCain.
I though the liberals claimed to be advocates of human rights(Saving Iraq not good enough?). It's all talk. Like saving some place called Tibet. It's not even that bad when compared with the savagery of the middle east. Saddam, Ahmedinjihad, Kalid, the Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah, all far worst at perpetrating atrocities. Muslims have killed millions of innocents in the name of Islam. For 'nothing' in other words. For no good reason. |
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The lib media will say he was ducking sniper fire. |
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Isn't that the guy you liberals called General "Betrayus"? that your sucking up to to look presidential?(YOUR NOT). |
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The heights of hypocrisy are astounding.
The political neophyte is unable to admit the value of the military surge... while he receives the benefit of a Media Surge.
Good lord - what would it look like if the media dared ask Obama a SERIOUS question or hold him accountable to his zig-zagging issue-dodging flip-flopping stated positions? |
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Here are just a few of the major mistakes he has made recently.
1)ABC’s Diane Sawyer, who asked whether the "the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent.”
McCain responded: “I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border." The ABC posting added: “Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do.”
2)Somalia” for “Sudan”: As recounted in a reporter’s pool report from McCain’s Straight Talk Express bus on June 30, the senator said while discussing Darfur, a region of Sudan: "How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?"
Senior adviser Mark Salter corrected him: “Sudan.”
3) “Germany” for “Russia”: A YouTube clip from last year memorializes McCain referring to Vladimir Putin of Russia — following a trip to Germany — as “President Putin of Germany.”
4) This spring, McCain said troops in Iraq were “down to pre-surge levels” when in fact there were 20,000 more troops than when the surge policy began.
5) Also this spring, McCain twice appeared to mistake Sunnis and Shiites, two branches of Islam that split violently.
6) In Phoenix earlier this month, McCain referred to Czechoslovakia, which has been divided since Jan. 1, 1993, into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He also referred to Czechoslovakia during a debate in November and a radio show in April.
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Frankly, McCain leaves much to be desired but at least he is for real. Unlike the imposter, flim flam man Obama! The strongest candidate Hillary
was ambushed and the pickins left are slim to none. My vote for McCain is in the hope, it will help save us from the unqualified Rookie. I'm sure there are enough informed, wise & strong minded folks who know reality and the difference between fantasy and fact! The devious, scary Obama can't fool all of us. Between the two contenders, the choice is easy. Go McCain, at least our country will survive your leadership!
ex Democrat |
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Then we have Obama's gaffes which include 57 states in the United States and his confusion of Memorial Day and Labor Day. Since these are a little closer to home, I think I'd rather have a president who confused the Sunnis and Shiites rather than one who forgets how many states there are in our country.
And thanks, Joe, for the great post on Katie's interview...I hadn't seen that.
Kimberly, you continue to be an idiot. |
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He is just a patological liar. |
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let see now, hussin obama just stepped on the iraqi soil didn't get shot at; he walked the iraqi desert soil, didn't get rip by road side bomb; he was met by smily american troops; he didn't have to wear the armour vest; verbal exchange with iraqi-the traitor PM mahali; agreed with him on 16 months exit time line to kick out the american troops. what else did i leave out? yes, he came out iraq safe and sound. he missed the swiftboat as did kerry but he came to iraq through his dream. after woke up he didn't see the surge accomplishment because he was only dreaming. now tell me voters, will you vote for hussin obama, a self made not yet elected wanabe president, keep dreaming while our country is in derision under attack by the opec gang? would you voters, especiall those lost sons and daughters during the surge campaign agree his callous statement,"No, I'm still against the surge!" this rat has no place in america and surely not worthy to call an american. bob of california |
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I'm sick of hearing people like you say.....the lives of our soldiers have DONE NOTHING.
I know the truth...because I have a son there.
These men would shoot themselves in their foot before following an idiot like Obama!
How about letting the military men drop out if they don't like your Obama President....I think the drop out rate would be about 3/4....
then what will you "cry" if your home is taken over and we are all under attack....or you have to give your home to another welfare client?
How about when you work 40 hours and have to give 20 to someone that doesn't want to work?
Don't call the military men....they won't come to help your obama hollywood. |
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Afghanistan
Iraq
Jordan
West Bank
Jerusalem
McCain said he should go. Can't blame him for listening to Grampy's advice
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