Does Obama have such qualities and should a political neophyte, a former
state senator from Illinois, with just two years of experience in the U.S.
Senate, be hired for the world's most important job? Should voters exert
blind faith that he is up to the challenge?
What is Obama's view about the threat from terrorists from without and
within our country? He says the United States should never have gone to war
in Iraq, that invading the country was a bad strategic blunder, but that
having gone, we must make sure that Iraq is stable. Does he consider a
stable Iraq with an elected and functioning government important enough to
finish the job?
If not, would he accept responsibility for what would likely follow a
withdrawal of U.S. troops, a withdrawal he proposed in November, such as a
terror state that might launch attacks against its neighbors and recruit
suicide bombers for missions inside the United States?
"Only through this phased redeployment can we send a clear message to the
Iraqi factions that the U.S. is not going to hold together this country
indefinitely - that it will be up to them to form a viable government that
can effectively run and secure Iraq," Obama said. "It is time to give Iraqis
their country back, and it is time to refocus America's efforts on the wider
struggle yet to be won."
But what if, for whatever reason, Iraqis are not yet ready to bear full
responsibility for their country and for the insurgency that seeks to
permanently occupy it? Would he accept responsibility for such a gigantic
policy failure? When you're president, you don't get to pass the buck.
These are the questions that need answering. We have a right to know what
manner of individual aspires to the Oval Office, before we give him, or her,
the honor, privilege and responsibility of the office.
In short, it's time to start writing on that blank slate and to seriously
contemplate what's written there.