Obama credits Edwards with leading on Iraq

[Catchawave]

Kewl beans :) http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2007/6/17/153256/994/17#c17

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...

Responsible voices from all parts of the political spectrum are coming forth to say this in increasing numbers.

Colin Powell had the courage to call his presentation to the United Nations on Iraq a "blot" on his distinguished record. And recently John Edwards said he made a mistake in voting to go to war in Iraq, and accepted responsibility for this decision.

It is no coincidence that both Mr. Edwards and Mr. Powell no longer serve the government in Washington. Those of us in Washington are falling behind the debate that is taking place across America on Iraq. We are failing to provide leadership on this issue.

Iraq was a major issue in last year's election.

But that election is now over.

We need to stop the campaign.

The President could take the politics out of Iraq once and for all if he would simply go on television and say to the American people "Yes, we made mistakes. Yes, there are things I would have done differently. But now that we're here, I am willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats to find the most responsible way out."

Nearly four decades ago, John F. Kennedy took responsibility for the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He admitted that mistakes had been made. He didn't spend a good deal of time publicly blaming the previous administration, or the other party, or his critics. And through these decisive actions, he earned the respect of the American people and the world – respect that allowed his diplomacy to be trusted a few years later during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Americans everywhere are crying out for this kind of leadership today. They want to find pragmatic solutions to the difficult and complicated situation in Iraq. They want to move forward one of the greatest foreign policy challenges that faces this nation in a generation. And they want to get it right for every American son and daughter who's been willing to put their lives on the line to defend the country they love. It's time for us in Washington to offer the rest of the country this leadership. Thank you.

Hope Elise see's it. The Windy One himself considers Edwards to be a leading voice in Iraq. Compares his role to Kennedy, JFK and I would add RFK.

[IndyOp]

1. Your link to Chicago Sun article is not direct...

Below is the link to "Moving forward in Iraq" - Sen. Barack Obama's remarks as prepared for delivery to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-051122obamaspeech,1,1763806.story?page=1&coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

ALSO NOTE: The speech is from November 2005 - though I don't recall hearing anything from Obama that differs substantially from what appears below.


Shit. Obama is still spewing right-wing talking points about the battle against radical Islam.

According to a recent Pew survey, 42% of Americans agree with the statement that the U.S. should "mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own" – a significant increase since the immediate aftermath of 9/11. We risk a further increase in isolationist sentiment unless both the Administration and Congress can restore the American people's confidence that our foreign policy is driven by facts and reason, rather than hopes and ideology. And we cannot afford isolationism – not only because our work with respect to stabilizing Iraq is not complete, but because our missteps in Iraq have distracted us from the larger threat of terrorism that we face, a threat that we can only meet by working internationally, in cooperation with other countries.

He is concerned about "isolationist sentiments" among citizens. When the f*** are they going to get that the desire to end the empire is NOT isolationist? I am so damn sick of their twisted rhetoric. :grr:



Look - Barack is going to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic!

First and foremost, after the December 15 elections and during the course of next year, we need to focus our attention on how reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq. Notice that I say "reduce," and not "fully withdraw."

This course of action will help to focus our efforts on a more effective counter-insurgency strategy and take steam out of the insurgency.

On this point, I am in basic agreement with our top military commander in Iraq. In testimony before Congress earlier this year, General Casey stated that a key goal of the military was to "reduce our presence in Iraq, taking away one of the elements that fuels the insurgency: that of the coalition forces as an occupying force."

<snip>

I believe that U.S. forces are still a part of the solution in Iraq. The strategic goals should be to allow for a limited drawdown of U.S. troops, coupled with shift to a more effective counter-insurgency strategy that puts the Iraqi security forces in the lead and intensifies our efforts to train Iraqi forces.



And a finale' from the GOBAMA MAN:

Fourth, we have to do much better job on reconstruction in Iraq.

The Iraqi people wonder why the United States has been unable to restore basic services – sewage, power, infrastructure – to significant portions of Iraq. This has caused a loss of faith among the Iraqi people in our efforts to rebuild that nation and help it recover from decades of brutal tyranny.

THINK BARACK - WHY HAVEN'T WE DONE A GOOD JOB ON RECONSTRUCTION -- BECAUSE THAT ISN"T THE JOB OF EMPERIAL FORCES -- we are supposed to suck all of the life and material wealth out of them, not put any in. C'mon Barack - how 'bout a little honesty. Just a little.



I have to say that I now feel justified for having gone a bit bat shit crazy on the phone when someone called to ask me for money for this man. I told him his foreign policy was a horror and here we have it -- a man who has sold his soul to the military-industrial-congressional complex and now enjoys his time philosophizing about the affairs of the empire with his good elitist buddies.

[Catchawave]

3. Yep, sounded like a new article, and I'm sorry

I usually do better fact checking than this.

[IndyOp]

4. Don't sweat the small stuff. And, remember, it's all small stuff. :-) (n/t)

[geek tragedy]

5. If Edwards folks think being lumped in with Colin Powell om Iraq

is a compliment, they're more desperate than I thought.

[Zensea]

2. Isn't this a little disingenuous?

This story is from November 22, 2005
His crediting of Edwards here is fairly boilerplate as well.
If the intent is to hoist Obama on his own petard, I'd say it is a fairly weak attempt.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an Edwards supporter and unless something changes between now and the primaries I'm planning on voting for him.

[Catchawave]

6. Clearly, the facts are okay, I thought it was breaking....

Mea Culpa here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/17/20145/6141