Barack Obama: Putting Meat on the Bone

[jefferson_dem]

Barack Obama: Putting Meat on the Bone

For the first few months of his presidential candidacy, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was criticized for being all rhetoric and no depth. His rivals took subtle jabs at him for the lightness of the campaign, insisting that "hope" was not a policy.

No longer.

On Wednesday Obama rolled out what his campaign called a "comprehensive strategy to fight global terrorism", a plan that includes removing American troops from Iraq, the deployment of at least two more brigades to Afghanistan, increasing non-military aid to Afghanistan by $1 billion and creating "Mobile Development Teams" designed to tamp down the strains of extremism around the world. (You can -- and should -- read the full speech here.)

Obama's terrorism speech Wednesday is part of a series of other policy addresses/proposals that he has made in recent weeks. He outlined his lobbying reform plan at the end of June and roughly a month earlier outlined his proposal to solve the health care crisis in America.

Taken in total, Obama has addressed the top foreign and domestic policy issues of the day as well as his own signature issue in a the space of three months. Remember that, unlike the political junkies who traffic on this site, many voters -- even in Iowa and New Hampshire -- are just now tuning in to the campaign and are likely unaware that there was ever a sense that Obama was light on policy proposals. What they're likely to see now is a candidate with some policy heft to back up his personal appeal.

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http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/08/barack_obama_putting_meat_on_t.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. I knew that "lightweight" rap was bullshit. Nice to see the media admitting it finally.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

2. He had to do it eventually but as he fills in the blanks he risks alienating some people...

...who projected their hopes, their views onto him when he was a blank slate.

[sandnsea]

3. He needs to keep pushing hard

He has the better ideas and truly wants a new direction for the country and world. It is not enough to put a happy face on the same old antagonisms, we need a new approach and perspective. His urban policy speech was every bit as good as his foreign policy speech, he really knows how to make change.