Obama: My Judgment On Foreign Policy Is Best Of All Candidates (TPM)

[jefferson_dem]

Obama: My Judgment On Foreign Policy Is Best Of All Candidates
By Greg Sargent | bio

The skirmishing among the Dem candidates continues today, with Barack Obama telling a private gathering in New York last night the following:

"Look, one thing I'm very confident about is my judgment in foreign policy is, I believe, better than anyone else in this race, Republican or Democrat."

The campaign has just sent out a transcript of Obama's remarks, and they're well worth a look. The campaign released them because Drudge reported this morning that Obama had made similar comments at a private discussion at the Time Warner session: "I am the most qualified candidate, in either party, on foreign policy."

Turns out Drudge didn't have the quote right, but what Obama actually said is still worth reading, particularly since Hillary has worked so hard to get out front of Obama on foreign policy of late. Obama, for instance, says this:

"The notion that somehow from Washington you get this vast foreign policy experience is illusory."

Full transcript after the jump.

Obama on foreign policy:

"Look, one thing I'm very confident about is my judgment in foreign policy is, I believe, better than anyone else in this race, Republican or Democrat.

"And I don't base that simply on the fact that I was right on the war in Iraq. But if you look at how I approached the problem. What I was drawing on was a set of experiences that come from a life of living overseas, having family overseas, being able to see the world through the eyes of people outside our borders.

"The notion that somehow from Washington you get this vast foreign policy experience is illusory."

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jul/25/obama_my_judgment_on_foreign_policy_is_best_of_all_candidates

[TwilightGardener]

1. True that. Hillary and Edwards DID blow it on the IWR--

and neither read the entire Intelligence report before voting on it--ooooooops!

[nini]

8. We'll never really know how Obama would have voted will we?

Being able to say after the fact what he'd do doesn't mean he wouldn't have done it at the time. If he had been in the Senate at the time then we'd know for sure.

I like Obama a lot and he's one of my first choices, but being he wasn't in on the vote I think he's got it easy to say he would've been against it back then.

[TwilightGardener]

9. Well, that's true. But it's safe to say that Hillary and Edwards made

their Iraq decision based on political calculation. I honestly believe that. It's not an unforgivable sin to me, but it's there.

[sandnsea]

13. It's the judgment, not the vote

I don't judge anybody on the vote either. I judge them by their approach to Iraq and the war. If they didn't say much of anything about Bush letting inspections continue or not using diplomacy, then that vote is the least of their judgment problems. Hillary and Edwards were wrong on that war waaaaay after that vote took place.

[elizm]

14. When he was running for the Illinois Senate...

...He spoke out about his opposition to the war loud and clear...apparently unafraid that it would lose him the election if he spoke out against it, which was an unpopular thing to do at the time. You have to admire him for that.

[nini]

15. I do admire him which is why I have given him money

and I do like the fact he's vocal about the war opposition BUT there is the fact he didn't have to face that vote and we'll never really know - that's all I'm saying ;-)

[elizm]

16. True. Keep in mind...

...Someone who would stand in front of the NEA, while running for the President of the United States, and say he is in favor of merit pay for teachers is pretty darn gutsy and certainly not a sign of a panderer. And I am a teacher. :) :hi:

[killbotfactory]

18. Here's a speech Obama made before the IWR in 2002

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the president today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure that the UN inspectors can do their work, and that we vigorously enforce a non-proliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons already in their possession, and that the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across the globe.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil, through an energy policy that doesn’t simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil.

Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair.

The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not – we will not – travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama's_Iraq_Speech

He was against the war.

[BeyondGeography]

21. He also said Saddam had nothing

"Now let me be clear – I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity.

"He’s a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

"But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history."

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama's_Iraq_Speech

He stuck his neck out. If he had been wrong in his pronouncements, he'd still be a state Senator in Illinois.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

22. He didn't say Saddam had nothing.. From your own link

=="Now let me be clear – I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity.

"He’s a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.==

If Obama had never made this speech would he ever have won a statewide primary? He was correct in opposing the IWR but let's not make it seem as if an obscure state legislator preparing to run in a statewide Democratic primary in a blue state took a huge gamble by opposing the war.

[BeyondGeography]

23. The point holds...if he was wrong, you would never have heard of him

I'd also add that if your candidate had made the same speech, he'd be the frontrunner right now.

[killbotfactory]

24. The point was that Saddam was no threat to the US

He did develop WMD's in the past. Everyone knew it. The problem was there was no credible evidence that he had reconstituted those programs like Bush claimed, and Clinton believed.

[elizm]

2. And his judgment....

...Is something I have learned that I can believe in.

[SaveElmer]

3. Is this from "The Onion"...nt

[rinsd]

4. Nothing wrong with that. Candidates are SUPPOSED to believe they are the best.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

5. Kucinich has by far the best judgement on foreign policy

Unlike others he had the judgment to vote against the IWR and vote against financing the war. As Kucinich pointed out during the debate to Obama, you cannot legitimately claim you opposed something from the beginning when you consistently rubber stamped continuing it until pressure from the party's base forced you to change your "judgment" on Iraq. Clearly, Obama himself disagrees with his past 2 year "judgment" on financing the war. Kucinich has been completely consistent and has not second guessed his "judgment."

Kucinich has also come out against the Iraqi OIL law and is better on other things as well.

[wyldwolf]

6. A silly silly argument. Living overseas makes him most qualified?

:rofl:

I bet Colin Powell told him to say that. And I bet Bill Richardson is having a hearty laugh over Obama's insolence.

The media will have a field day with this.

[Dawgs]

7. Well, Hillary thinks she has the best experience because she lived in the WH for 8 years.

I'll take Obama's experience living in foreign countries over Hillary discussing foreign policy while Bill was President.

[rinsd]

11. Obama living overseas when he was 10 vs. meeting with world leaders.

Good luck with that.

[rinsd]

12. When he was 10 years old no less, a key age for grasping geopolitics

:evilgrin:

[BluegrassDem]

17. Living overseas and having friends and family from other countries is very important

I don't see what's so funny about it. Obama is right. He has a perspective that no other candidate has ever had. He lived in Indonesia, attended school there and had a step-father who was Indonesian. He has grown up with this perspective which he has carried on into his adult life. So yes, his living overseas does matter. He is able to see how other countries view America.

[rinsd]

25. He was overseas from age 6 to 10.

And while I think that is a plus for him in terms of different culture exposure it has very little to do with foreign policy experience.

"He is able to see how other countries view America"

He was under the age of 10.

[sandnsea]

10. Obama - "New School Realist"

Ending the war, repairing the military, stopping the spread of WMD, renewing partnerships, helping impoverished and ungoverned countries that are the breeding grounds for terrorists. He's got it exactly right and doesn't feel the need for cutesie gotcha methods to implement his plans.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/strengtheningamerica/

[killbotfactory]

19. The longer he's spent outside the beltway, the better

Washington insiders live in a corporate bubble.

[BeyondGeography]

20. Obama is the real Bridge to the 21st Century

to borrow an old Clinton phrase. It's about more than just living overseas as a child. If you read Dreams of My Father, he has plumbed the depths of his Kenyan heritage to understand who he is and where he fits on this earth. Human motivation, in a global sense, is something he deeply understands and respects. There was a time, not long ago, when half the U.S. Congress didn't even have a freaking passport. We understand the world a fraction as well as it understands us; that's the real national security problem, as I see it.