UPDATE: LISTEN TO THE FULL OBAMA April 6. FUNDRAISER SPEECH HERE
Last night at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Barack Obama took a question on what he's looking for in a running mate. "I would like somebody who knows about a bunch of stuff that I'm not as expert on," he said, and then he was off and running. "I think a lot of people assume that might be some sort of military thing to make me look more Commander-in-Chief-like. Ironically, this is an area--foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain."
"It's ironic because this is supposedly the place where experience is most needed to be Commander-in-Chief. Experience in Washington is not knowledge of the world. This I know. When Senator Clinton brags 'I've met leaders from eighty countries'--I know what those trips are like! I've been on them. You go from the airport to the embassy. There's a group of children who do native dance. You meet with the CIA station chief and the embassy and they give you a briefing. You go take a tour of a plant that [with] the assistance of USAID has started something. And then--you go."
"You do that in eighty countries--you don't know those eighty countries. So when I speak about having lived in Indonesia for four years, having family that is impoverished in small villages in Africa--knowing the leaders is not important--what I know is the people. . . ."
"I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college--I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. . . ."
"Nobody is entirely prepared for being Commander-in-Chief. The question is when the 3 AM phone call comes do you have somebody who has the judgment, the temperament to ask the right questions, to weigh the costs and benefits of military action, who insists on good intelligence, who is not going to be swayed by the short-term politics. By most criteria, I've passed those tests and my two opponents have not."
There are a number of interesting things about Senator Obama's remarks. If Senators Clinton and McCain have not passed "those tests," likely they will be surprised to hear it. Secondly, even though I've researched and written on Hillary Clinton's trips abroad and consequently been critical of her claims, my estimation of her foreign travels is that they were sometimes quite a bit more than a dance, a briefing and a tour. What Barack Obama's remarks last night in San Francisco reveal, however, is his self-confidence--to the point of cockiness--right now. This is exactly the same demeanor on display last week in Pennsylvania.
So Bill Richardson and Joe Biden--to name two with foreign policy experience--should put aside any transient veep thoughts.
Another area--and this one is policy--in which Obama is not an expert is energy. Case in point is his ode to ethanol, which he delivered last week on his Pennsylvania bus tour at Molly's Amerigreen gas station in Manheim. This does not mean that he's going to give Al Gore the veep call--and by the by, Obama never said at the Wallingford, PA town hall meeting that he might offer Gore a cabinet position. He was very careful not to reply in the affirmative when he took the question about whether he would consider Gore. Obama said, "I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table in figuring out these [global warming] problems." Well, at the table is one of Obama's favorite locutions. I've heard him say on several occasions that all Americans will be at the table one time or another. Obama's table is going to be a long one.
Last night Senator Obama had a few more words on the subject of choosing a vice president. "That last thing I'd say about a vice president is--obviously, you want someone who can be president and who shares a broad vision of where I want to take the country; don't have to agree with me on every particular, but shares with me a bias for opening up government, adding a rational discourse about how we're gonna solve problems, a bias towards empowering individual citizens." Those seats at the table again.
Note Obama's delicate sentence constructions. Never a gender pronoun--a he or a she--anywhere.
The San Francisco fundraiser was Senator Obama's fourth and final of the day. He had made appearances earlier in Atherton, Marin and around the corner at another Pacific Heights mansion. Even the Obama Campaign, I suppose, can never have too much money. The folks who came out on Sunday were not the very rich, even though these events were for people who have "maxed out" their donations. The very rich have long since given. The fact that so many middle class Californians are giving $2300 to Obama shows both the depth of prosperity in the state and the allure of the scent of victory.
UPDATE: Below is audio from the portion of the fundraiser detailed in this story. Apologies for the very poor quality.
UPDATE: The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer covered this piece, which you can view here.
This is the same SF fund raiser where Obama made the infamous "bitter" comment, yet instead of writing about it in the above article (which was posted exactly ONE DAY after the fund raising event), you waited until the 11th to post an article about it? The same day Bill Clinton resurrected Hillary's Bosnia LIE with another LIE.
You are very transparent Ms. Fowler. I hope that check the Clinton campaign wrote you was worth it.
Obama endorsing ethanol is typical feel good politics, without knowledge. Ethanol is a scam of a few global agribusiness conglomerates. Obama and the others need to do their research. The 20% use of corn in ethanol has tripled corn prices. You can not see the impact of ethanol at the pump, but you can certainly see the impact of biofuels in your local grocery store. Worse yet, we are now starving the poor in developing countries to drive cars. Ethanol is an idea poorly conceived and executed worse - a typical government program.
Ethanol also destroys the environment. Developing nations are destroying protected lands to plant crops for fuel. More polluted waters, more marginal lands used, more fertilizer, more energy consumed to farm.........
Food stuffs are being held back in South East Asia, so they can sell the food oil to the rich nations for fuel, instead of feeding people. Numerous reports noted this consequence years ago, but they were ignored by the US media.
Then again the environmental movement was long ago co opted by Malthusians, instead of people who really care about mother nature. This group knew biofuels would starve the poor, just like removing DDT killed millions in developing countries every year. So they achieve their objective.
Obama will likely choose Richardson for his executive and national-security experience. Two-term governor, as Energy Secretary he oversaw nuclear weapons, and as UN Ambassador he sat on the National Security Council.
Who else are you going to recruit who knows better how to run a superpower from within? Who's ready from Day One?
Gov. Richardson helps the ticket in too many ways for him to make Sen. Obama look weak on foreign policy. As a very very popular governor, Richardson beefs up Obama on domestic policy too.
Obama is campaigning on his foreign-policy credentials, not making binding pledges for the convention.
If Obama decides Richardson should be his running mate, as I believe he will, the operative terms will be "executive experience" and "national security"- two-term governor of New Mexico and former Secretary of Energy (which includes nuclear weapons), and his other Clinton Cabinet appointment, UN Ambassador, sitting on the National Security Council in that role as well.
Even though Gov. Richardson has the most foreign policy experience of any of the original candidates, he can still be brought on board to shore up real-life experience running a superpower from within.
"...The dope in the black community is not America's fault..."
were U thinking that the dope in the black community
is being shipped there from southeast Asia? Or from
Colombia? And ur saying it's black people from Detroit
or Pittsburgh that own the squadrons of ships and
fleets of executive jets that R bringing in th dope? And
it's the black people that run homeland security and
the DEA that R permitting it to come in?
Just asking...
Those commenting here should learn a bit more about Obama. I suggest that those interested read "Audacity of Hope" where he addresses most of the big issues before us, and shows how he thinks. He is first and forermost a good listener. (That is how he approached his work as a community organizer.) And he knows a heck of a lot about other cultures and peoples.
But, if we get to specifics, there are things Obama doesn't know about, like what it feels like to have a Bosnian sniper shooting at you.
He also knows what Reagan did to our economy. (Someone should tell McCain!)
He was a brilliant law student. He even passed the bar exam on his first attempt -- as most good students do. I was quite impressed with the story of Barack's meeting with Robert Byrd. It was a good scene. It should give all people of good will encouragement that we can change the things wrong with our country by following our traditions, our Constutution, and out ideals. I'd like all those now focussing on small minded divisiveness, to read Byrd's speech against the invasion of Iraq and Barack's speech on perfecting our union, and see where our solutions can come from.
Yeah it was rough with Clinton, 22M new jobs, a 70% approval rating, budget surplus, the US was respected and loved all over the world, an economy that raised most if not all boats, passing Kyoto, fighting the tobacco industry and getting them to admit that smoking causes cancer and I have not even gotten to oil prices yet!
Plowboy get a grip. There are things that can be measured, and empty rhetoric is not one of them.
However, I will take "a little cocky" over "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran".
He also failed two polygraph tests on the subject.
http://www.bloggernews.net/114055
His lawsuit has been dismissed. Personally I would like to see Obama sue him for slander, but that would just prolong this liar's sordid tale.
The Washington Post Editorial pg1a2;
Thursday, Feb.21 2008
Sinclair Federal Law Suit To Be Dismissed
In late fall of 2007 Lawrence Sinclair approached campaign officials of the Sen.Barack Obama campaign, and told them a very disturbing story. Rob Allen of the Sen. Obama campaign stated. After the meeting had concluded the campaign officials ruled it off, as “just someone trying to make a buck.”
The following week they received a phone call, from a man claiming to represent Mr. Sinclair, and demanding $100,000.00 as restitution for his client.
Lawrence Sinclair has filed a federal suit against Barack Obama and others for harassment since the gay man released his video on YouTube.com, a internet web-site for viewing homemade videos, alleging that, the Senator from Illinois and Mr.Sinclair shared oral sex and cocaine in the back of a Mr. Sinclair’s limo in Gurnee, IL in 1999.
The Post has learned that presiding Judge Donald Wilson is dismissing the case, due to credibility on Mr.Sinclair. Stating that the complainant has an extensive record of mischievous conduct. Further more such allegations warrant sound credible standards, which are not found in matters included in this suit.
google - larrysinclair0926.wordpress.com
http://wapa.tv/superxclusivo/ LARRY SINCLAIR REVEALS ALLEGATIONS AND LAWSUIT IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT INVOLVING BARACK OBAMA. WATCH LINK
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/03/obamas_iraqi_oil_for_food_conn.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3433363.ece
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article478506.ece