Oliver Willis: Obama Unclear On Nukes

[ProSense]

August 02, 2007

Obama Unclear On Nukes

After defending him yesterday, I'm not sure what the heck Sen. Obama is talking about today.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday he would not use nuclear weapons "in any circumstance" to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"I think it would be a profound mistake for us to use nuclear weapons in any circumstance," Obama said, with a pause, "involving civilians." Then he quickly added, "Let me scratch that. There's been no discussion of nuclear weapons. That's not on the table."

Of course we don't want to use nuclear weapons, but quite simply you never take any options off the table as president. That's part of the big stick you have backing up your words in the position. Is Obama saying he would never ever use nukes? Because that's not a promise any president should make. Senator Edwards was right when he said all options were on the table, and any president worth his or her salt is going to echo that.

On edit: nuclear war is on the table?

[bigdarryl]

1. He's right why the fuck do we have 10,000 nuclear weapons anyway its CRAZY

[CGowen]

2. I hope the Russians are right

...
"It is difficult to predict the future of the START-1 treaty. The U.S. administration will probably be reshuffled soon," he said, adding that if a Democratic candidate became president the U.S. would "not continue destroying all (international) treaties."

Sergei Markov also agreed that changes in the future U.S. administration after the 2008 presidential election would dramatically transform U.S. foreign policy.

"It is clear today that the American people will reject the current policy and this group (of radical Neoconservatives) will retreat, 'licking their wounds,' to think tanks and newspaper and magazine offices," the expert said.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3422833&mesg_id=3422833

[maximusveritas]

3. Nuclear war should be off the table, without question

I don't care if Hillary and her band of "experts" call me naive, but I don't see how any good can come from a nuclear first strike. It should be off the table.

[PurityOfEssence]

4. How about retaliation?

What if the baddies got their hands on some of A.Q. Kahn's little toys, nuked Kabul and we knew where the rest of their nukes were? What if the only way to get at them in their protected sites was with a nuke?

If you don't think the reactionaries are going to posit such things, think again.

It was his sloppy speaking about possibly violating the sovereignty of a nation that got him asked this question in the first place, and now his sloppy speaking has him back in clarification gulch again.

Sloppiness and confusion is one thing. Habitual sloppiness and confusion is something different, and being that way about nuclear devices is chilling.

Giving the right wingers a way of skewing his statements on everything under the sun won't help us one little bit.

Scratch that.

Oh, let's scratch a coupla those, too.

Hell, let's just throw away the hydrocortisone and scratch everything.

It's not all just a bunch of big meanies picking on him, he's constantly saying provocative and unclear things, then having successive versions of clarification.

[maximusveritas]

5. Retaliation is a completely different issue; He was talking about the options now

I know the right wing and some of Obama's Democratic opponents will try to distort his words, but he'll just have to fight back like he did after the last debate. This is a winning issue for him in the long run.

[Superman Returns]

6. It's funny

One day Obama is criticized for wanting to send troops in to kill or capture Al Qaeda in Pakistan, the next day he is careless for taking the nuclear option off the table when clearly a nuclear strike would truly destablize Pakistan and the region.

[ProSense]

7. I think it's because he

added the "involving civilians" caveat, then said scratch that.

Democrats need to stop talking about stupid hypothetical nuclear wars.