Brzezinski Endorses Obama, says, "Being a former first lady doesn't prepare you to be president."

[flpoljunkie]

Brzezinski Embraces Obama Over Clinton for President
By Janine Zacharia

Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the most influential foreign-policy experts in the Democratic Party, threw his support behind Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, saying the Illinois senator has a better global grasp than his chief rival, Hillary Clinton.

Brzezinski, 79, dismissed the notion that Clinton, 59, a New York senator and the wife of former President Bill Clinton, is more seasoned than Obama, 46. "Being a former first lady doesn't prepare you to be president. President Truman didn't have much experience before he came to office. Neither did John Kennedy,'' Brzezinski said.

Clinton's foreign-policy approach is "very conventional,'' Brzezinski said. "I don't think the country needs to go back to what we had eight years ago. "There is a need for a fundamental rethinking of how we conduct world affairs,'' he added. And Obama seems to me to have both the guts and the intelligence to address that issue and to change the nature of America's relationship with the world.''

Negotiating With Foes

Brzezinski also sided with Obama, who was criticized by Clinton as being "irresponsible'' and "naïve'' for saying he would meet in his first year as president with leaders of adversaries such as Iran and Syria. What's the hang-up about negotiating with the Syrians or with the Iranians?'' Brzezinksi said. "What it in effect means'' is "that you only talk to people who agree with you.''

Clinton has the backing of her own Democratic foreign- policy heavyweights, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, both of whom served in her husband's administration.

Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, had no comment on Brzezinski's remarks.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aNK76qu5lAFs&refer=politics

[alarimer]

1. But she has been a Senator longer than Obama has

Or did he somehow forget that?

[bigdarryl]

2. Being a 6 year senator doesn't prepare you either thats why a senator....

hasn't gotten to the white house sense Kennedy

[alarimer]

6. Well it is a stupid reason for endorsing Obama over Clinton

when in fact Clinton has more experience than Obama does. He seems to have conveniently forgotten that.

[Ethelk2044]

7. Clinton does not have more political experience than Obama.

[sandnsea]

9. changing America's relation in the world

That's why he endorsed Obama. Hillary is stuck in the past.

[Rodanthe]

14. I disagree

Being a senator does prepare you. convincing the voters that it does is another matter. I'm sorry to sound elitist, but most people don't understand how a senate vote works which is why it's easy for the opposition to come in and attack a senator's record during a campaign. Are the telling the truth? Sorta. Are they being incredibly deceptive in their ads? You betcha. Governors know absolutely SHIT about foreign policy (see Reagan and Nicaragua or Bush and Iraq as proof of that statement), but they are less easy to attack during a campaign.

[maximusveritas]

22. Someone completely missed the point

Did you read the whole thing or just the bolded section? You don't have to answer. I already know what it is.

[PurityOfEssence]

23. Obama's been a legislator longer than she has

Don't seem to hear that much...

Even if it's a backwater state operation, legislatin's still legislatin. Then again, they're both angling for an executive position here...

But the hell with muddying the waters with all this reality stuff; it just messes with people's spiels.

Considering the reputation for local politics in his neck of the woods, I'd say one would get one's chops in such a den of thieves...

For both of them, it's like looking at resumes for entry-level positions: very few entries with lots of qualifiers and explanations. The truth is that neither really has much to crow about here, and neither should really start throwing stones at pretty glass houses.

[nini]

3. ok. that is sexist.. Why bring that up being she's been a Senator for so long?

Stupid thing to say.

[smirkymonkey]

16. Exactly. Hillary was hardly a typical "first lady" and and that

remark is just sexist. If he prefers Obama, fine. But a stupid jab about Hilary being inexperienced due to the fact that she was a former "First Lady" is just idiotic.

[nini]

17. the little woman thing came to mind

ugh

[Bitwit1234]

4. Being a senator two two years doesn't either.

[Skip Intro]

5. the question was meeting with adversaries without preconditions

If he's going to misrepresent what was asked and how it was answered, I really don't care what he has to say.

[Geek_Girl]

8. I think Brzezinski hit the nail on the head

Clinton's foreign policy views are old school and our nation needs to rethink the way we handle world affairs.

[Colobo]

10. I love to see haters cringe when things go well for Obama.

And good for Mr. Brzezinski.

[nini]

12. I love Obama.. and I still think this comment comes off wrong

so there :P

[AtomicKitten]

11. Experience?

I am always fascinated to see how this is construed as inexperienced:

>> A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before running for public office. He served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, launching his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003. <<

[truedelphi]

13. This is really fabulous. I have been thinking for a week

Now that one of Hill's main talking points is that she remembers all of her experiences of the nineties. And bases a lot of what she thinks on those years.

We need to move away from that paradigm.

Her stance on foreign policy, her stance on health care, it is so yesterday.

But she still remains oh so true to the goals and aspirations of the DLC.

[Mika]

15. Another move on The Grand Chessboard?

:scared:

[illinoisprogressive]

18. she has clintonistas. Not heavyweights like Zbig, among others.

[MrSlayer]

19. Obama thinks it does.

He said so on TDS the other night.

[Karmadillo]

20. Is this what Brzezinski means by a "fiundamental rethinking of how we conduct world affairs"?

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Intro_RogueState.html

Introduction
excerpted from the book
Rogue State
by William Blum
Common Courage Press, 2000

<edit>

Consider Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to Jimmy Carter. In a 1998 interview he admitted that the official story that the US gave military aid to the Afghanistan opposition only after the Soviet invasion in 1979 was a lie. The truth was, he said, that the US began aiding the Islamic fundamentalist Moujahedeen six months before the Russians made their move, even though he believed-and told this to Carter-that "this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention".

Brzezinski was asked whether he regretted this decision.

Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it' The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.7

Besides the fact that there is no demonstrable connection between the Afghanistan war and the breakup of the Soviet empire, we are faced with the consequences of that war: the defeat of a govemment committed to bringing the extraordinarily backward nation into the 20th century; the breathtaking camage; Moujahedeen torture that even US govemment officials called "indescribable horror"; half the population either dead, disabled or refugeesi the spawning of thousands of Islamic fundamentalist terrorists who have unleashed atrocities in numerous countries; and the unbelievable repression of women in Afghanistan, instituted by America's wartime allies.

And for playing a key role in causing all this, Zbigniew Brzezinski has no regrets. Regrets? The man is downright proud of it! The kindest thing one can say about such a person-as about a sociopath-is that he's arnoral. At least in his public incamation, which is all we're concemed with here. In medieval times he would have been called Zbigniew the Terrible.

more...

On edit: italicized quote for clarity

[UTUSN]

21. Eww. O.K. So I endorse Mika, and our point IS?!1 n/t

[Drunken Irishman]

24. Does this mean his foxy daughter will be too?

:9

[eridani]

25. Zbig was the guy who got the ball rolling to fund radical Islamists in Afghanistan

Not surprised he's endorsed one of the "first tier". He has no problem with continuing to dominate the rest of the world by military force--he just is frightened about how stupid the neocons are about doing it. Neither do any of the leading candidates, unfortunately. I don't see smart imperialism as an improvement.