Republicans love to portray Obama as naïve when it comes to foreign policy. Let's go to the scorecard. Iraq: Prime Minister Maliki just announced he supports Obama's troop withdrawal plan. Afghanistan: Obama has long argued that Iraq has been a dangerous distraction from what should be the real focus of the war on terror, Afghanistan, and has recommended sending additional troops there. McCain, who has opposed sending additional troops, did an about-face on Tuesday, all but yelling "Me too!" Iran: Obama has taken a lot of GOP fire for his willingness to negotiate with Tehran. This week, we learned the Bush administration has decided to send a top diplomat to a meeting with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, and is planning to open an "interests section" in Tehran. Score three for naiveté.
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Thank you Arianna for this Post. CNN and FOX are so transparent. Watch tomorrow they are going to try and downplay Obama and the cheers he received from the Troops.
McCain calls Obama naive and reckless for wanting to set a timetable to get out of Iraq. Next thing you know the sovereign Iraq government demands we set a timetable and Bush has given in but would rather call it a "time horizon".
First Obama says yes he would attack Pakistan if need be, then Bush attacks Pakistan
McCain calls Obama reckless and an appeaser for saying he will sit down with leaders of countries unfriendly to the U.S. 3 months later the Bush successfully appeases and negotiates with N. Korea ('axis of evil') and they begin to dismantle their nuclear plants.
Now Bush is doing the same with Iran.
Obama has been saying Afganistan needs more troops and equipment for a year now while McCain barely mentioned it.
Obama makes a big speech about sending more Troops and of course McCain follows Obama's coattails and states what Obama has been saying all along.
Who has the judgement?
Did McCain's Chief Foreign Policy Advisor sell us out? Seems like he was in the middle of the money for absolution scandal that the UK Times Online discovered.
"In a further link, Randy Scheunemann, chief foreign policy and national security adviser to John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, was listed in the WSE brochure as part of its executive team. Scheunemann and Associates, his lobbying firm, is reported as having represented the Caspian Alliance in 2005.
At the undercover meeting last week, Payne said Scheunemann had been “working with me on my payroll for five of the last eight years”. When confronted over the link to KMG, Payne declined to comment."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/...
What a surprise, it looks like one of the guys behind one of the worst foreign policies in our history is a sellout. If this guy goes down with Phil Gramm and all the other McCain lobbyist advisors who are dropping like flies, who will be left? McCain himself? They guy who doesn't understand the difference between Sunni and Shia? He'll really steer us right in Iraq. This is looking really really bad for McCain.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/19/almaliki.obama/
Note that it isn't, "He didn't say that." It is a "clarification" - in other words, damage control after the WH came down on al-Maliki.
Me, I'm a big fan of naiveté. It allows me to believe that we haven't gone so far down the road to ruin that we can't recover.
but what is actually naive is a pledge to vigorouly continue the so-called "war on terror", intensifying it against Afghans, expanding it to Pakistanis, and escalating it against Iranians.
Continued bases and continued occupations results in continued economic ruin and continued loss of liberty to enriched elites and repressive war acts.
AND John McCain failed to recognizing that our focus should have been always been on Afghanistan, and the Taliban, and AlQueada, the people who are responsible for the death of over 3000 people on 9/11.
ADD TO THAT, THAT John McCain has NO PLANS to get out of Iraq, even though we have been there for 5 years, and the results of that is that we DO NOT have enough soldiers left to fight the Taliban, and AlQueada, in Afghnanistan.
THE FACT IS EVERY FOREIGN POLICY DECISION JOHN McCAIN HAS MADE OVER THE PAST 8 YEARS HAS BEEN WRONG!!
John McCain's claims his strength is foreign policy, BUT that "my friends", is TOTAL BULLSH*T!!!
cinci should also note that it is ALWAYS the candidate who has fallen way behind who "demands" debates as John-boy has. Leading candidates don't need them! However, I actually think that Obama has been exceptionally kind to McBush by not debating him yet. When you get Obama on a stage with McBush, poor McBush is going to be wishing he could slip into the woodwork. It'll be a repeat of this eye-rolling, chin rubbing, "I don't know enough to respond" moment on the Double Talk Express when asked the now infamous Viagara/contraceptives question. Now THAT will be priceless!
Now, take a wild guess who the youngest serving President in US history was? That’s right, TEDDY ROOSEVELT. Roosevelt was only 42 when he took over the Presidency after McKinley’s assassination. Roosevelt also had very little political experience at the time. He was briefly the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, served only 2 years as Governor of NY, then became McKinley’s Vice President for about 6 months before becoming the President.
Obama’s camp needs to use this whenever the McCain camp tries to attack Obama for not being old or experienced enough for the job.
President Harrison appointed Roosevelt to the United States Civil Service Commission, where he served until 1895.
Roosvelt served as deputy sheriff in Medora, North Dakota. He learned to ride,rope, and improved his shooting skills. Arguablly no 20th century President was closer to real people.
From early childhood Roosevely traveled in Europe, and the middle east. As an adult he extended those travels to Africa, the far East, and Greenland.
Including the experience of Governor of NY, and McKinley"s Vice President He had been a New York Assemblyman writing more bills than any other New York state legislator.
Roosvelt Graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Harvard University, wrote numerous books, and consorted with the most intelligent and connected people of the time.
He also had (unlike Obama) the humbling experience of losing elections (when running for mayor of New York he came in third.) It is good to have a couple of falls before winning the big one...
Its incredible that its taken the freshman senator from Illinois to map out a plan for Iraq and Afghanistan to see any inkling of a shift in policy from the Bush administration. I'm wondering if maybe, since Bush has defined the phrase hard-line approach to governing, that it took Obama's ideas to make him see that there are other ways to do things.
Then I woke up. Much as Bush says he doesn't follow the polls, I think he lives by them. Maybe he finally looked in the mirror and realized that he screwed up. That or there was divine intervention involved.
The little 'kid's not naive, he simply knows naked when he sees it.
If you let our politicians post and then censor anything that might hurt their feelings, then you are doing them no favors. They should hear what your readership thinks.
I was censored on the Linda whats her name peice for using caps (?) to tell her to just get busy.
You are far to sensitive to her feelings.