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Stephen Schlesinger

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McCain Has Some Questions For Obama

Posted: 02/04/08 08:35 AM ET


We are a day away from Super Tuesday. If you are thinking about voting for Barack Obama, consider whether he is the best candidate to go toe to toe with John McCain in the Fall election. Let's look at the attack line that McCain would undoubtedly use against an Obama candidacy.

Consider:

What is Senator Obama going to say when Senator McCain asks him why he is in favor of granting drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants as Obama has admitted at least twice in Democratic debates?

What will Senator Obama say when Senator McCain cites Obama's present position that undocumented workers will not be covered in his health care proposal, yet when he was running for the Senate he said that children of undocumented workers should get the same health care benefits that citizens get?

What is Senator Obama going to say when John McCain starts to ask people to compare Obama's qualifications to be president to McCain's experience? That his years on the Senate Armed Services Committee don't matter?

What is Senator Obama going to say when John McCain begins to ask him about negotiating in unstructured summits with the leaders of Iran, North Korea and Cuba without preconditions?

What will Senator Obama say when Senator McCain asks him why he said in 2004 that he did not know how he would have voted on the Iraq war authorization and that his view of the Iraq war was not different from President Bush's? What will Senator Obama say when Senator McCain compares Obama's votes to fully fund the Iraq War in the Senate to Obama's rhetorical opposition to that war?

What is Senator Obama going to say when Senator McCain questions Obama's claim to be "the most qualified person in America to conduct the foreign policy of the United States"? What is Senator Obama going to say when Senator McCain says that Obama is not one of the most qualified members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to lead this country in today's dangerous world but instead one of the most absent?

What is Senator Obama going to say when Senator McCain points out that Senator Obama has not conducted a single policy hearing as chairman of the subcommittee on European Affairs of the Foreign Relations Committee?


 
 
 
 
 
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09:39 PM on 02/07/2008
Stephen, this is a good article! Senator Obama is taking the high road, avoiding petty arguements and focusing on etherial noble goals.

But, if Senator Obama is the DNC candidate whether as President or Vice President he must answer to some degree his avoidance of these issues.

The only way the Democratic Party can shield him from the harsh spotlight is to become VP. Hillary in the lead on foreign and Obama on domestic. It is almost an unbeatable ticket except that:

Some very ugly baggage will be chained to their legs. Bill Clinton will not stay out of Hillary's business! And that is what the Republicans are waiting for.

The Republicans are now almost united! The backroom brokering is going on! Fences are being mended. Money is flowing towards McCain. He must and will give in to many conservative demands. He is getting ready to kick Obama's ass with one hand tied behind his back. Hell need both to defeat Hillary.
05:40 PM on 02/05/2008
Stephen, I don't understand why my comments about Obama's 'NO' vote on the Illinois senate bill of the 'Born Alive Infants Protection Act' were not posted??? We can only guess the pro-Obama powers-that-be deleted them before you even got a chance to read them. Vetting out Obama's "complete record" seems to be frowned upon, at HuffPost. (wink-wink) ;)

At any rate, I strongly believe that Obama will lose to McCain and that Hillary will make a much more formidable candidate in the general election.

Have a great day. :)
05:05 PM on 02/05/2008
Let's try, what will McCain say when he is asked to defend his votes and leadership in getting care for vets in the past two years while claiming that if elected, they would get a card to use and not wait. Why not now or two years ago instead of a promise down the road. What about his supposed stand up to Bush on the torture laws and questioning when all he and Lindsay Graham got was a change to agree to support the Geneva Conv. which everyone knew we would do. What about the willingness to give insurgents rifles, ammo, and $300/mo to not shoot at us and not supporting giving the poorest Americans and seniors getting only soc sec a onetime rebate of $300. As soon as these insurgents don't receive their $300, they will turn or own weapons on us, or does McCain plan to give them $300/mo for 100 yrs? McCain is the phoniest candidate running and his 25 yrs experience his worthless if it just represents failed ideas.
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SamEllison
I feel so clean!
01:13 PM on 02/05/2008
I have answers to all McCain's questions; Right now I'm going to vote for Obama. Thanks Stephen, I needed that!
01:09 PM on 02/05/2008
Mr. Schlesinger failed to mention the only question Obama need ask McCain to show what a terrible president McCain would make: "Why did you say that you didn't care whether we were still occupying Iraq 100 years from now?"
11:48 AM on 02/05/2008
The list of questions are silly. I could answer everyone of them as I read them. Barack will make mincemeat of them. Come on is this the best you can do.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Democrab
Pretty far so good
08:26 AM on 02/05/2008
Good words.

If Obama wins the nomination a few of these questions should be asked before the presidential debates so he'll already have tested the waters.

C'mon press he's not fragile, don't worry, he can take it too. And if he can't, let's find out now.

McCain certainly is going to lose it after a few tough questions. He's a tried and true candidate for anger management, and will at some point during the debates, explode in front of the camera. Or should I say "implode."
03:20 AM on 02/05/2008
Well said. Of course the mainstream media will still give Obama a pass on every substantive issue he can't answer, because they have put him on their "Special Bus." Even when he loses, they keep telling us how hard he tried and how he almost won, while losing only by 3% or 6%. They never call Hillary the winner - even when she wins.
02:23 AM on 02/05/2008
Awesome Article, I just don't know why when Hillary and Bill raised some of these matterss, the media and wacko's like Kennedy and Kerry said its not true. I am a Dem and if Hillary does not get the Nomination I will actively campaign for McCain. And this is not hot air. I will make phone calls, go to the polls and donate money (Just as I am doing with Hillary)
02:03 AM on 02/05/2008
The last sentence of my previous post should read: He should quickly tie McCain back to the Bush "third term" angle and the potentially horrendous outcome in store for America IF the election of a Bush clone comes to pass.
01:51 AM on 02/05/2008
Recently Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton said: "The choice between the Democrats and Republicans couldn't be more clear. A vote for John McCain is a vote for a third Bush term with a never ending war in Iraq and an economy that favors those at the top."

To handle McCain attacks, Obama could tie McCain to Bush's "third term", especially in questions concerning foreign policy, with emphasis on the war, and an economic policy that favors the rich and the corporations. Since McCain has ventured into areas where he holds similar positions to those of Bush in an effort to burnish his conservative credentials,
Obama should point out any positions that are viewed as unfavorable to "true conservatives", such as immigration. He should seize any opportunity to correct any spin or omissions of fact concerning his own positions, putting forth his own views on the subject.

I've handled each of the points in this article but the software will not allow the complete post.

But after each point he would finish up by once again tying McCain to Bush's horrendous foreign policies, emphasizing the Iraq War debacle.

He should quickly tie McCain back to the Bush "third term" angle and the potentially horrendous outcome in store for America the election of a Bush clone comes to pass.
01:48 AM on 02/05/2008
Hillary is to the right of McCain.

She has not yet seen a middle eastern war she did not like (iraq, Iran, Lebanon) .

Furthermore, she ruined health care reform for almost 2 decades, and now accepts more money from big insurance companies than anyone else in the US government than George Bush.

She supports kicking Palestinians out of Jerusalem and making it the undivided capitol of Israel, which will ensure terrorist attack against the US for Decades to Come.

Your questions of Obama are a CAKEWALK in comparison to Hillary's incompetence and utter lack of foresight and integrity
12:36 AM on 02/05/2008
What about when McCain asks Hillary Clinton why she thought her vote for the 2002 vote "authorizing military force" was actually a vote for diplomacy?

What about when McCain asks Hillary whether she would've turned against the war if it had gone well?

What about when McCain asks Hillary why her experience as first lady is somehow comparable to his over 40 years of military and public service and his 5 years in a Hanoi prison?

You act like Hillary won't be asked any tough questions that might stump her by McCain but Barack will be. Gimme a break. The Republicans have plenty of embarrassing questions to ask Hillary as well.
12:06 AM on 02/05/2008
Hillary Clinton, under fire about her commitment to civil rights due to Bill Clinton's campaign of racial coding, has lately been loudly proclaiming her fealty to the Democratic Party's best traditions on human rights.

However, just two years ago, Hillary--the purported "expert" on international relations--said there should be "lawful authority" for torture in some cases.

(See, for example, www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0907/Hillary_and_torture_audio_version.html)

Her stand was opposite to that of every other major Democratic presidential candidate in 2007-2008, and the heat she took for it caused her to make one of her famous "flip flops."

If you can't make your mind up about a transcendent moral issue like this, what good is vaunted "experience"?
11:53 PM on 02/04/2008
Thanks for pointing that out! It adds one more checkmark in the positive column for Obama. He'd like our tax dollars to be directed towards compassionate endeavors, instead of being wasted on killing people in Iraq.