Who is the Real Agent for Change?

During the last Democratic Presidential Candidate debate in Des Moines the moderator asked Senator Barack Obama how he could be a change agent in foreign policy when so many of his advisors were part of the Bill Clinton administration. Senator Hillary Clinton opined that she would like to hear that answer. Senator Obama deftly allowed that he would also seek Senator Clinton's advice.

The Clinton campaign is trying to turn this into an issue although I cannot comprehend why. Senator Clinton and her spouse are now trying to present her as a change agent. But if a few former members of Bill Clinton's administration call into question Senator Obama's change bona fides , does not the bevy of advisors from that administration now working for Senator Clinton make her pretensions of being a change agent even more suspect?

And does not the direction of change matter? (George W. Bush changed American foreign policy dramatically.) What are the differences between the directions each candidate would go? Compare the teams. Those advising Senator Obama, such as Tony Lake, the first National Security Advisor to President Clinton, opposed the Iraq misadventure while Senator Clinton and her campaign's chief foreign policy advisor, Lee Feinstein , supported the war and continues to defend that support. Likewise former Secretary of State and Senator Clinton advisor, Madeleine Albright, was taken in by the Bush deception while Susan Rice, an assistant secretary under Albright was not. And the advisor in chief, Bill Clinton, also supported the Iraq invasion, his recent assertions notwithstanding.

A more interesting question may be why so many former members of the administration of President Clinton do not support Senator Clinton. I was not a member of the Clinton administration but I had something to do with the 1992 victory. In August 1992 I arranged a meeting between then Governor Clinton and four retired flag officers, one from each service. Among those was the late and must missed Admiral William Crowe, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After that meeting and the intercession of several members of Congress and others, Admiral Crowe endorsed Governor Clinton. That and closely following endorsements by 20 other retired flag officers derailed the plans of then President Bush to attack Governor Clinton on his military service or lack thereof and stopped Bush's advances in the polls

So, with all I have invested in the first Clinton administration, why am I supporting Senator Obama? There are a number of reasons. Of secondary importance is my aversion to dynasties, Bush I was mediocre, Bush II is a disaster of cosmic proportions. Bill Clinton was a good president who, except for some personal flaws, could have been a great president. But Clinton II would be a roll of the dice, and probably a soap opera. And who would want to be vice president or secretary of state under that co-presidency?.

More important, as a retired military officer, I have to ask who would be the better Commander-in-Chief. The first quality I look for is the judgment of the candidate and his team. Senator Obama passed this test for Iraq as did his team. He also opposed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment that could give Vice President Cheney the ammunition to convince President Bush to attack Iran. Senator Clinton failed both tests of judgment

In addition to judgment, the next president must be able to alleviate the primary problems the U.S. military face - personnel. This is especially true in the Army where enlistment quotas are being met by lowering standards and allowing felons, drug abusers and other serious criminals to enlist. It took us a generation to rebuild the military after Vietnam and the same will be true, at least for the Army and Marine Corps after Iraq.

So I ask myself, who can inspire America's youth to military service? Who has a plan to greatly expand national service outside the military? The face I want to see on the television challenging America's youth to sacrifice is Senator Obama's. He would not have told us that the response to 9/11 was to shop. He will not sell us the easy path by promising painless patriotism. He will challenge this generation as President Kennedy challenged mine. And they will respond. I cannot imagine any other candidate with the power to do that.

Comments

[JohnWane]

Forget plagrism, that could have been an innocent oversight, which is nothing compared to each and every warm body that have done business with the Bush's Administration. Joe Biden is the name and no one, no one would regret ever, ever, voting for him, Dodd or Kucinich. And don't let Mother Nature's subconscience meddling concerning Kacinich fool you, you don't have to have the stature of lady liberty to make monumental decisions improving the quality of life for everyone, not just for the "have and the have more crowd" so often and fondly mentioned with love and taxpayer's money from George Saudi Bush and U don't know Dick Haliburton Cheney, but, for everyone.

[Nutcase]

"So, with all I have invested in the first Clinton administration, why am I supporting Senator Obama?"

With real choices available, just why are you supporting Obama?

Obama, as Clinton, represents the corporations. Some of us want to be represented also. That means looking elsewhere than the two that the MSM has picked for us.

Would it be possible for you to erase your blog and post it with the MSM where it belongs?

At present I am willing to hold my nose and vote for Clinton or Obama in the general election, if necessary. But the flood of blogs by their friends on this site are making me question whether that will be sufficient to keep me from upchucking in the ballot box.

[Dansden]

Dodd is the ONLY one who has shown he is willing to make the 'commitments' to support the Constitution and to work for the middle class working American families.....

Dodd took time from his campaign to challenge the Telecom giveaway with a filibuster which stopped it in its tracks. We have had enough of the corporate fascist influence with Bush and Dodd put his 'time and money' where his
commitment was- for small business leaders and middle class American working families.

[lgillooly]

Clinton/Biden or Edwards/Biden on 08'

[TommyMcCarthy]

Has any body but me noticed the HUGE disparity between national poll numbers and those in Iowa? Won't some of the candidates feel silly when, looking back from next November, they realize they spent close to a year and tens of millions of dollars to no avail?

Just a week to go until we can wade through the spin of who did "better than expected" and "not as bad as expected" and begin the primary season.

I predict, four years from now the caucuses will generate only slightly more interest than the straw poll......­..........­.....tm

[BUSHsurvivor]

I'm still lost on the dynasty thing. It makes no sense.

On Obama's 2002 THOUGHTS of what he would've done on Iraq...it really doesn't hold water since he was a state congressman at the time and NOT part of what the Pretzeldent was selling, uh I mean telling Congress! And Obama continued to fund the occupation. What's up with that?

He hasn't convinced me that he has good judgement, experience and leadership for the position of POTUS.

[Rebelfriend]

It's one thing to talk about "change" and quite another to provide substantive, detailed, well-thoug­ht-through plans for "change." Anyone who has been paying close attention to this campaign can clearly see there is only one candidate who is "the" candidate of change. And that is John Edwards. While Obama has spoken in beautifully worded generalities about change, John Edwards has had the courage to put forth a flood of ideas about changing the direction America is taking. Many of us are tired of hearing about Obama as the candidate of change. In that department, Edwards is the pro, Obama the amateur.

[Markson]

For the love of God, get it straight: Obama co-sponsored a bill earlier this year with the same exact language regarding the Iranian revolutionary guard, marking them as forces of terrorism. He conveniently chose to skip out on later vote on the Iranian guard, a bill he himself considered "reckless" when he could've taken a stand and voted against it.

He has failed to lead on the issue of Iraq. His record is almost exact as Clinton's.

He is no change agent. At all! He's not better than Clinton. Only Edwards is.

[QuietObserver]

Obama is sometimes mocked for being the 'inspiration' candidate, as if you must be divorced from reality to value such a thing. But I think people underestimate the power of inspiration. It may not be quantifiable, but great leaders are those who can bring out the best in people. Obama seems to have this gift. An Obama presidency could change the way the world sees us, and also change the way we see ourselves.

[engineer68]

If Black youth wanted to enlist in the military they would be signing up now. They don't see anything in it for themselves. Obama did not serve so why should some others do so? there was a time you could enlist to get skills that would serve you later in civilian life, but outsourcing ended that. A job with Blackwater is about all you can look forward to.

[YankeeCanuck]

Who's real? Who will bring about change? Better look at the whole picture. There are more than two candidates.
Biden, Richardson, Dodd have ideas,ability and concrete plans that far surpass the "frontrunn­ers".Pleas­e give yourselves the gift of reading their websites.

Before we partake of the artfully arranged platter the media have been serving us from the beginning, let us look at Biden, Richardson, Dodd, Kucinich for some REAL nourishment!

The big campaign spenders offer too many empty calories.

[LizM]

Senator Obama has not passed any judgement test on Iraq. He has shown a surprising and dangerous lack of understanding of the Iraq Resolution (2002) authorizing use of force, UNDER CERTAIN AND CLEARLY OUTLINED CONDITIONS - WHICH WERE NOT MET BY THIS PRESIDENT.

Let me correct that...I think he understands very well what that resolution was all about and has already admitted that he couldn't say how he would have voted, had he been in the position to do so. Since then, however, he has the taken the apparently politically expedient and completely disingenuous route of saying that he was against the war from the beginning while some of his rivals in this race 'voted for war'.

It seems to me that Senator Obama has been very successfully, on the surface, using this false stance to compensate for his paucity of foreign policy prowess.

Let me be clear about one thing - a vote for the Iraq Resolution 2002 WAS NOT A VOTE FOR WAR, and Senator Obama knows that...or he is not competent to be the next POTUS. Of course, I could be saying the same thing about Senator Clinton and John Edwards, and I have done so on many occasions.

The analysis of that critical vote, here and elsewhere, has been superficial and misleading at best and wholly inaccurate and based on false premises at worst. I would have thought, that posters here would have used their voices to shed some light on this issue instead of fanning the flames of ignorance and politics as usual. This election is far too important for that kind of nonsense.

There is only one candidate, of any party, who has been honest, straightforward, and forthright about what the Iraq resolution was all about, long before it was tabled, during the pre-vote senate floor debates, and to the present, and often times phoney, debate surrounding it.

That candidate is Senator Joe Biden - the real agent for meaningful change, armed with an unmatched grasp of the issues and a proven record of making change happen through bipartisan consensus-building.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Rebuild the military ge blar blar de blar blar,
war is a racket, this one needs to be ended,
and guys like you probably need to be put
in the witness stand...how's your Halliburton
stock, 'sir'? Obama? Not on a fourth blue
moon in a week.

[SeanGardner]

I love your post.

[Lis]

What change can Hillary bring us?

Someone answer this question, please.

What change can Hillary bring us?

I would rather some REAL change, thank you.

Obama 2008!