Obama Doctrine And The Minds That Shape It

American Prospect:

When Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama met in California for the Jan. 31 debate, their back-and-forth resembled their many previous encounters, with the Democratic presidential hopefuls scrambling for the small policy yardage between them. And then Obama said something about the Iraq War that wasn't incremental at all. "I don't want to just end the war," he said, "but I want to end the mind-set that got us into war in the first place."

Until this point in the primaries, Clinton and Obama had sounded very similar on this issue. Despite their differences in the past (Obama opposed the war, while Clinton voted for it), both were calling for major troop withdrawals, with some residual force left behind to hedge against catastrophe. But Obama's concise declaration of intent at the debate upended this assumption. Clinton stumbled to find a counterargument, eventually saying her vote in October 2002 "was not authority for a pre-emptive war." Then she questioned Obama's ability to lead, saying that the Democratic nominee must have "the necessary credentials and gravitas for commander in chief."

Read the whole story: American Prospect

Comments

[GOP4MoreTears]

Hillary Clinton is GOP not so lite.

[AC500]

[HumeSkeptic]

Testing an old post to see if it appears:

[HumeSkeptic]

There is a lot of anger expressed against Pelosi and Reid for not stopping war funding. It is justified. I also was angry. The time to do it was right after the 2006 elections. But, accompanying that cutting of funding had to be an initiative to replace our military action with a coordinated international diplomatic initiative. Without it, Iraq situation could potentially become worse, at least for Iraqis.The expectation that either Obama or Hillary can pull out of Iraq immediately after taking office is unrealistic for the same reasons. First, they would have to have a major diplomatic initiative started. And that would talk some time.What, then, is the difference between Obama and Hillary, if both would pull out of Iraq?The difference is not so much what each would do in Iraq. The difference is how each would handle potential future conflicts, such as Iran.On the one hand,we have Hillary, who has consistently sided with the NeoCons on foreign policy and war. And we know her approach going forward. Hillary supports the classic NeoCon approach of dividing the world up into good and evil, and refusing to negotiate with the evil without pre-conditions. In other words, she is telling us that she would continue the NeoCon policy.On the other hand, Obama's approach of talking to world leaders without pre-conditions is an approach that has always served us well. We did that throughout the cold war. Even Reagan followed that sensible approach. That is how you avoid major conflicts and war.There

[cmrosko]

Is Obama the Frankenstein Of Carl Rove?

[MissingAmerica]

I watched all of Obama's speeches last week, including Portland and Salem, Oregon. This is the first politician I've heard in years that sounds like an American who loves his country and its people, and wants to return it to a government of, by and for the people. His plans are not only sound, but he explains each one and the reasons for his decision. He's an intelligent, articulate and wise man. He has my vote and all the support I can give him to win the White House.

[Jeffomil]

Let's face it, Hillary is scum who'll do anything and say anything to get the nomination she feels entitled to. No wonder she married Bill. Birds of a feather! By the way, while I think his politics and hers stink, he was a GREAT president.

[Marlyn]

At last! An anti-war candidate. I love Barack Obama.

[cmrosko]

Is Obama The Frankenstein Of Carl Rove?

[robontheleftcoast]

Thanks for this article. Senator Obama's new rational foreign policy is coming across in his speeches which benefit from a complete viewing, not just YouTube sound bites. An example is his Iraq speech in Fayetteville on March 19, eclipsed in the media by his race speech. http://thepage.time.com/full-text-of-obamas-iraq-speech/ I'm looking forward to other leaders adopting the vision.

[outnow]

Corporate-led. finance-driven globalization has successfully transfered wealth from labor to capital. This has resulted in inequality and exclusion on a massive scale, which, combined with pressure on water and other environmental resources, is likely to fuel new conflicts.

[nellie]

Excellent article. The more I read about Obama, the strong my support grows for his candidacy. In all fairness, I'd like to see this kind of reporting about Hillary—I'd like to know more about her thought processes with respect to these issues.

[GOP4MoreTears]

If you want to know more about Senator Clinton all you have to do is read the GOP talking points.

[kellygrrrl]

if he really wants to "end the mindset that got us into the war" then he's going to need to hand down some criminal indictments and make it very clear that these actions will be punished.

[babybabybaby]

if he made that statement today, he'd be a president tomorrow.

[Plowboy]

babybabybaby, you forget who controls the media. You forget that most people do not seek truth,but are happy to be fed by Fox and Limbaugh. You forget that so very few people -- especially here in America want to think.

[rojo7449]

Why? The mindset belongs to the administration in office right now. None before, and, hopefully, none to follow. It's not glaringly obvious what he means with his statement, and it's really not clear what his plan is to change a way of thinking. Who's way of thinking? A handful of careless men who used every manipulation trick they could come up with....in­cluding sending a man who we thought was honorable to the UN to convince them WMDs were in Iraq.

[goodsnservices]

Brilliant article enunciating Obama's brilliant approach to foreign policy. This is exactly what we need to counteract the damage done by the Bush administration. The author is rights: had we taken the time as a nation to examine the foreign policy wonks Bush chose to surround himself with, we would have rejected them, and him, en-masse during the first election. Obama's team is brilliant, diverse, experienced, and collectively, the policy they will produce will be profound and profoundly different from the neocon agenda we've seen in the Bush administration.

[riverhouse]

It's beyond dispute at this point that Obama has the superior judgment over Hillary. The Iraq war vote is the clearest measure of judgment we're going to get. Like millions of people who did not have a vote on this folly of an invasion, Obama knew instinctively and intellectually that it was a wrong decision for this country. Hillary didn't bother to read the NIE, fell hook, line, and sinker the quite obvious lies and misrepresentations of the Bush administration, listened to her special interests pals at AIPAC, and sent American soldiers to die and be maimed, a country and its society to be demolished and its innocent civilians to be slaughtered, and to this day she will not admit her error. It's not possible for any reasonable person to find her fit to be president. If she couldn't get that biggie right, she's not going to get anything right.

[AnninCA]

Oh please. It's so not established that he has shown good judgment at all.

It's very much his core challenge, in fact.

The more we see, the less we like.

[Ajita]

Let me try your style of arguing:

"No youre wrong. I will not present any evidence but I'll just keep saying it till I convince myself"

Hmmm, doesnt work for me, I guess I like facts.

[Monkeytime]

Enough with the snippy potshots.

Please read the entire piece. Then comment

Its probably a little longer than you're used to, but give it a chance. It might actually bring you into a debate about actual policy positions.

There is a real war on. Your candidate voted for it. She also voted to (symbolically) scoot us closer to war with Iran.

Do you really take this election seriously, or are you merely blinded by either disdain for Obama and/or affection for Clinton?

The fact is, it is truly starting to look like Obama is going to be the nominee, so you would serve your self well to actually familiarize yourself with some of his core positions.

[Seattlelite]

Speak for yourself Annin CA -- There are those of us the more we "listen" to Sen. Obama the more we like him. First of all he's shown considerable good judgment -- speaking out saying the war in Iraq would be a mistake. It was only the "MOST" important decision our leaders had to make in their career! And he did so when his political advisor's were telling him it would cost him the election to the IL Senate. He didn't do what was popular he did what "he" thought was right. It's called "integrity". Putting your own ambitions aside to do what is right. Now you can discount this all you like but a person only has to show good judgment when it "counts" what they do after that can be minimized.

[donaldw6]

Seriously, speak for yourself. What's with this royal "we"? Well, "we" are not amused.

[mjc]

riverhouse­.., are you going to continue to claim that Hillary Clinton didn't "read" the NIE report but voted for it anyway forever? It was a 93 page report and it wasn't given to the Senators until a day or so before the vote. The Senators on the Foreign Intelligence Committee, the Democrats, that is, did read it because they had seen it earlier and did plea for a "no" vote on it. Hillary's staff did as most Senatorial staff did, READ the entire 93 pages and gave the Senator Clinton the breakdown of the report. If Saddam Hussein had any of the weapons of mass destruction he was thought to have there could be a very dire events in the Middle East. Voting for this resolution was a way of giving Bush and company a tool to hold over Hussein's head so that he would let the UN inspectors finish their work in Iraq or risk war with the US. Obama on the other hand was against the war in a speech, a campaign speech, he gave in Chicago when he was running for the senate. He had no qualms about the Middle East and probably had no basic knowledge of the problems there either. There were not many Senators who were willing to override the president's judgment. Repeating Obama's lack of understanding of the facts at the time isn't helpful but Obama, who says we ought to break with the past, can't quite seem to do exactly that.

[pleeezzze]

So you're saying Obama has Great Judgement ??? What I want explained to me is where was this Great Judgement hidding for the 20yrs he spent being mentored by and being best friends with the good rev ????

[Marlyn]

Yes, great judgement. I was so reassured when Barack Obama did not renounce his pastor, and in fact, I agree with what his pastor said.

[SayNoBHO]

I'm so sick of hearing that 20 years B.S. The fact that Obama is able to listen to varying views without covering his ears, running out of the room or doing something stupid is a credit to his judgement. Obama has not been corrupted by knowing Rev. Wright. To the contrary, I think it prepared him to be able to see through the lies that led us into Iraq.

[brwnizofmine]

sorry - one race

[brwnizofmine]

Pat Buchanan will always be Pat Buchanan, always pitting once race against another.

[EvoMan]

Pat's MSNBC's token racist.

[Seattlelite]

Pat Buchanan comes from the same generation as Rev. Wright which says it all in my opinion. All this race stuff is generational as Sen. Obama mentioned in his speech. The younger generations (black, white and brown) don't get it and frankly don't care about it. I say it's time these old timers start understanding that. Ask any person under the 50 if they related to Pat and Rev. Wright and I will bet they say NO!

[lainey]

Seattlelite, you are so right. The young and young at heart don't care about any type of hate. Not from preachers. Not from politicians. Not from the media. And not from bloggers. Senator Obama is a candidate of good spirit and sharp intellect. He is to be admired and respected. I pity all those who perpetuate hate and show disdain for hope. I pity all who resort to name calling, especially here on a Democratic blog. Show the best of America, not the worst. Thanks again Seattlelite, you are a breath of fresh air.