Posts with the tag 'Senator Obama'
The back and forth between the McCain and Obama camps about negotiations between the future president and the leaders of foreign dictatorships, such as Ahmadinejad in Iran and Castro in Cuba, addresses a real substantive difference in foreign for these two candidates. This clip from the CNN YouTube debate answers the question if Senator Obama will meet with dictators in the first year of his presidency.
Senator Obama has also stated that he wouldn’t require pre-conditions before negotiating with these dictators, but later stated that there would be preparations. There are several troubling things about this. First, as Senator Clinton pointed out in the debate, a president shouldn’t guarantee a meeting in their first year as they could be used as a pawn for propaganda purposes. Second, the comparisons between Iran and the Soviet Union are weak. The situations are very different, and not recognizing that is deeply troubling. Third, citing that ‘preparations’ but not ‘pre-conditions’ are needed for a presidential meeting is political tap dancing. What does that mean? Most everything in life requires preparation. He’s either trying to back out of a policy that even Democrats agree is foolish, or he’s still believes in this policy and is instead trying to push the question aside.
The Obama campaign instead of clarifying its own position has muddled the issue by attacking Senator McCain. First, Senator McCain was accused of saying that he would meet with Hamas without pre-conditions. This was proven untrue. The statement from Senator McCain said that since Hamas was elected by the Palestinians that they would have to be ‘dealt with’ as the leader of that government. That was not a promise of negotiations. Second, they accused Senator McCain of supporting normalization in relations with Cuba. However, Senator McCain stated that this was to happen only if Cuba took steps to embrace Democracy (a pre-condition). Finally, throughout this back and forth examples have been given where the U.S. government engages in diplomacy at lower levels of government. This however, is not the issue. Senator McCain’s point wasn’t that there should be no diplomatic relations; it was that the President of the United States should not be guaranteeing meetings without preconditions. Senator Obama has stated that Senator McCain’s views are naïve and that one shouldn’t be afraid to meet with foreign leaders. This may be what really shows how ‘in the weeds’ Senator Obama is in regards foreign policy. Numerous people from both sides of the isle have noted how foolish Senator Obama’s diplomacy policy is; yet he still accuses Senator McCain of naiveté. Now there may be some criticisms that the Obama campaign will be able to make stick to Senator McCain, but it’s hard to believe that calling him scared and naïve will ring true with anyone.
Tags: Ahmadinejad, candidate, Clinton, Democrats, dictators, foreign policy, Hamas, Iran, mccain, Obama, president, Senator Obama
May 21st, 2008
Barack Obama’s total lack of experience or legislative accomplishment has forced him to run a very different kind of Presidential campaign, mainly using abstract concepts like hope and change. When he was finally pressed to campaign on something concrete, Senator Obama decided to campaign on his “judgment” which seems to begin and end with a speech he gave in 2002. But that’s not the point. Senator Obama has the Judgment to Lead! He even puts it on spiffy banners!
Now, you would think that if a candidate wants to run on his judgment, the thinks he says, does, lies about and the company he keeps would all be valid topics of discussion.
You’d be wrong, of course.
According to Team Hope, anything pertaining to Obama’s friends, pastor, lifestyle, wife, or even his own actions and comments have nothing to do with Barack Obama’s judgment. No, they are manufactured distractions, that distract from the real issues, which is apparently Barack Obama’s judgment that one time and not all the other times.
It makes no sense to me, and Theo Caldwell agrees.
The bumper-sticker slogan “dissent is patriotic” has for decades been employed to legitimize any insult to America, no matter how hateful or moronic. But Americans understand that their president’s instinct ought to be to defend the nation against unfair invective, not embrace those who purvey it — or, in the case of Ayers, seek to blow it up altogether.
With his demonstrable view of America, and considering his cohorts, Obama would be wise to make himself very comfortable in the Senate.
Barack Obama can continue to dismiss any criticism as a distraction. I certainly hope he does. When January comes around, he can stew over all these distractions with Michelle, Bill and Jeremiah while John McCain takes the Oath of Office.
Tags: Barack Obama, change, experience, hope, John McCain, mccain, president, Senator Obama
April 22nd, 2008
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has the story.
McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues.
Jay Rockefeller is an Obama supporter whose judgment Senator Obama has repeatedly brought up in the primary against Hillary Clinton. Of course, Obama doesn’t seem to know or care how Jay Rockefeller actually voted, but that’s an issue for another day.
In Jay Rockefeller, Wes Clark and Gloria Steinem part of the Democrats strategy for November seems to be to belittle and even demonize not just John McCain, but military service as a whole.
That should go over well.
Orson Swindle says it best in the response at The Political Punch (emphasis mine).
Senator Rockefeller’s statement is an insult to all the men and women who are serving or have served in America’s military. Had Senator Rockefeller served himself, he would appreciate and understand that most who have been to war emerge with a much deeper concern for humanity than they otherwise might. If he knew what he was talking about, he would know that John McCain wasn’t dropping laser-guided missiles at 35,000 feet in 1967. Barack Obama has a responsibility to denounce Senator Rockefeller’s smear against John McCain’s character and military record. The question remains: Does Senator Obama have the courage to stand up and hold himself to the principles of ‘new politics’ he outlined in his book, “The Audacity of Hope?
UPDATE: Rockefeller apologizes….
Tags: Barack Obama, Gloria Steinem, Jay Rockefeller, John McCain, mccain, Military, Senator Obama, Wes Clark
April 8th, 2008
Charles Krauthammer wrote a very interesting article entitled The Speech: A Brilliant Fraud. His article points to the reason the issue of Pastor Wright isn’t going away for Senator Obama. While many have come to a conclusion about Obama’s ties to Wright, Krauthammer points out the many questions that remain. These and other questions about Pastor Wright will continue to dog Senator Obama if he chooses to avoid them. It’s a difficult issue, but people have legitimate concerns about how tolerant he was of hate filled sermons. Maybe Senator Obama has a legitimate answer for these questions, but he has to bite the bullet and answer them as intolerance and prejudice should not be accepted in any form.
Excerpts from The Speech: A Brilliant Fraud by Charles Krauthammer
“The beauty of a speech is that you don’t just give the answers, you provide your own questions”….
“The question is why didn’t he leave that church? Why didn’t he leave — why doesn’t he leave even today — a pastor who thundered not once but three times from the pulpit (on a DVD the church proudly sells) “God damn America”? Obama’s 5,000-word speech, fawned over as a great meditation on race, is little more than an elegantly crafted, brilliantly sophistic justification of that scandalous dereliction.”
Addressing the problem of the grandmother/Wright comparison he notes Obama’s statement, “I can no more disown (Wright) than I can my white grandmother.” and continues…
“Yet Obama compares her to Wright. Does he not see the moral difference between the occasional private expression of the prejudices of one’s time and the use of a public stage to spread racial lies and race hatred?”
Tags: Barack Obama, grandmother, hate, Jeremiah Wright, Pastor Wright, preacher, preaching, Senator Obama, speech, tollerence
March 21st, 2008
