PHOTOS: BARACK OBAMA meets today with his foreign policy team, generals and flag officers today

[flpoljunkie]

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., participates in a foreign affairs round table discussion with, from right, Susan Rice, former Sec. of Defense William Perry, former Sec. of State Madeleine Albright, Obama, and former Rep. Lee Hamilton D-Ind., in Washington Wednesday, June 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) sits with former 911 Commission chairman and former Rep Lee Hamilton (D-IN) (L), and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (R) as he meets with a foreign policy panel of former U.S. officials at a hotel in Washington June 18, 2008.
(Jim Bourg/Reuters)


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., talks with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright after a foreign affairs round table discussion in Washington Wednesday, June 18, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) talks with former 911 Commission chairman and former U.S. Rep Lee Hamilton (D-IN) (L) as he meets with a foreign policy panel of former U.S. officials at a hotel in Washington June 18, 2008. Obama created the panel to give him advice and possibly fill top posts in his administration if he is elected president in November. REUTERS/Jim Bourg


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, former Sec. of the Navy Richard Danzig, left, and Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, talk with generals and other flag officers during a military and foreign affairs round table discussion in Washington Wednesday, June 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, Ret. Gen. Merrill 'Tony' McPeak, and Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, talk with generals and other flag officers during a military and foreign affairs round table discussion in Washington Wednesday, June 18, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, talks with former Gen. Wesley Clark, and other generals and flag officers during a military and foreign affairs round table discussion in Washington Wednesday, June 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

[VolcanoJen]

1. That's a lotta flags.

Just sayin'.

[Arugula Latte]

14. My first thought, too. It's flag-o-rama.

I believe they've outflagged the Rethugs.

[rch35]

31. flag-o-bama, maybe?

*holds up pinky dr. evil style*

[Arugula Latte]

37. Mwa ha ha ha!

Indeed!

[rch35]

44. haha, the most evil face in cinematic history nt

[Lautremont]

2. Another example of why we should not trust Obama.

That table is clearly rectangular. So much for "round table discussions!"

[Tinksrival]

27. Aahhhhh!!!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Unsane]

3. Last pic = the ticket?

[saigon68]

10. I think so

It certainly will head in that direction.

It won't be another DINO like Joementum---

Note:-- Sorry Al you were a great candidate in spite of your VP the little draft dodger and Chicken Hawk

[tekisui]

57. I have thought so for some time....

[Erin Elizabeth]

4. You know what I really love?

I love that he's already ACTING like a president. He's not acting like he's ALREADY the president, but he is acting like A president. I think that's going a looooong way to instill confidence.

[gblady]

17. exactly....

my thoughts, too. He's not just talking, he's listening...to all sides, all opinions. Not just those who agree with him and pat him on the back. He is doing what he said he would do, bringing all sides to the table. I love it.

[caledesi]

18. Well said! NT

[polichick]

5. That's a dizzying number of flags!

[Erin Elizabeth]

6. He said,

screw the lapel pin, you want flags? I'll give you FLAGS. LOL.

[polichick]

9. LOL!!!

[Cha]

21. Yeah, who needs a measley

little flag pin when we got the real Flags, exponentially:P

[Erin Elizabeth]

23. I love that.

Does anyone remember a REALLY long time ago, here at DU, when the lapel pin thing started, people got into a really over the top outflagging each other competition? It was HILARIOUS. It got so exaggerated until one guy finally said he had the American Flag tattooed to the inside of his eyelids so he could see it EVEN WHEN HE WAS ASLEEP.

OMG I think I laughed till I peed my pants.

[myrna minx]

32. From the DU memory hole...

This thread still makes me laugh so hard...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=30171&forum=DCForumID35&archive=#1

[Erin Elizabeth]

35. That's it! I can't believe you found it.

"Oh yeah? I legally changed my name to 'Reagan is God.'"

:rofl:

[Flying Dream Blues]

29. That was my first thought, too! :)

[Adelante]

34. Haha

:D

[arewenotdemo]

58. good point

[gblady]

20. look....

at this angle...
lots of flags...lots of brass...

[polichick]

26. Holy moly - I'd need a motion sickness pill to sit in that room!

[comrade snarky]

47. Oooooo

He totally needs brass flags!

That would be sweet!

[Colobo]

7. He's got a great team there.

America expects a lot from him, and he's making sure not to dissapoint.

[sandnsea]

8. Well that's discouraging

I'd hoped not to see some of those faces in an Obama Administration. I hope this was a courtesy call and that most of them are soon retired.

[Muttocracy]

12. NYTimes calls it a "working group" and perhaps some are outreach to HRC supporters? nt

[Hutzpa]

13. My thought exactly

its time o turn the corner and plan a new direction, not
the same ol' tired and misleading policy embargo.

[Zhade]

30. I'll never forget Albright's callous remark that half a million dead Iraqi kids was "worth it".

Stunned.

[sandnsea]

36. That one, though, she apologized profusely for

I'll never forgive them for the IWR Vote strategy, to take it off the table during the 2002 election, which we lost massively anyway. And not being strong enough against the invasion, while trying to say afterwards that they opposed it. I didn't see this bunch out there opposing anything. Most of the time they were ridiculing the ones who were doing the opposing.

[Muttocracy]

11. List of all the team from NY Times

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/obama-convenes-national-security-team/

Below is a full list of the members of Senator Obama’s working group. At Wednesday’s meeting, Sam Nunn and Warren Christopher participated via telephone and Eric Holder, who is also a member of Mr. Obama’s vice presidential vetting team, did not attend.

Senator Obama’s Senior Working Group on National Security:

* Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

* Senator David Boren, former Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

* Secretary of State Warren Christopher

* Greg Craig, former director of the State Department Office of Policy Planning

* Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig

* Representative Lee Hamilton, former Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee

* Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder

* Dr. Tony Lake, former National Security Adviser

* Senator Sam Nunn, former Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

* Secretary of Defense William Perry

* Dr. Susan Rice, former Assistant Secretary of State

* Representative Tim Roemer, 9/11 Commissioner

* Jim Steinberg, former Deputy National Security Adviser

[Max_powers94]

15. A list right thurrr

[flpoljunkie]

16. Here's a photo of all of them...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, participates in a foreign affairs round table discussion with, from left, Greg Craig, Jim Steinberg, former Sen. David Boren, D-Okla., Tony Lake, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., Obama, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, Susan Rice, former Rep. Tim Roemer D-Ind., and former Secretary of Navy Richard Danzig in Washington Wednesday, June 18, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

[psychopomp]

46. I'd expected to see ZB on the list

:shrug:

[Muttocracy]

48. assuming I have the same ZB in mind,

he gave interesting testimony to SFRC last week. I'm sure there are other people like ZB and Biden and Kerry who are advising Obama but for some reason aren't included in that photo op.

[Hope And Change]

19. K & R!

[Hope And Change]

22. More pics...

http://my.slideflickr.com/pJm6XQYP

[phillysuse]

24. The last picture - Obama/Clark

Be still my heart!!!!!

Hottest ticket in town.

[butterfly77]

25. I love to hear Susan Rice speak..

this morning she was on the Joe show and she lit into bush's policies and called them stupid policies and said Obama would think smart..She didn't let Scarb get in his garbage...

[flpoljunkie]

42. Susan Rice is terrific. I saw her on Morning Joe this morning, as well.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

43. wow, I respectfully disagree. I think they need to keep her off tv

granted she's brilliant -- but she has a very angry demeanor, IMHO.

[butterfly77]

55. I guess this is some more of the ..

angry black woman or man syndrome..once again another double standard for blacks...On another point this is why the Dems keep getting their asses kicked, they are so damn afraid to fight back...

[Zhade]

28. Madeleine "half a million dead Iraqi kids is worth it" Albright.

I can't believe this shit.

[Catherina]

45. I can't either. I'm shocked and disgusted about that n/t

[Adelante]

33. The O and The Wes!

Boo-yah!!

[Clark2008]

40. I know... but some here will still insist that O can't stand the General

because he worked for HRC.

:eyes:

[Clark2008]

38. I hope we see this one ALOT

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080618/capt.0ffb8f54a84a4abc999eb21861d0b80b.obama_2008


:)

[windbreeze]

39. A couple keepers there...uh huh....yep..

I was wondering if Clark (he sure has gone white over the last 4 years)would be present when I started looking at pictures....I am going to post this thread elsewhere...wb

[Truth2Tell]

41. A few keepers

but mostly lame right-wing, interventionist, Clinton era, DLC asshats.

I pray this is not who will lead foreign policy in an Obama administration.

This list is very poor politics and even worse policy.

I support Obama, but man, this list stinks.

[Muttocracy]

49. I'm not clear on if it was just a discussion, a working group, a "team"

and others who have been advising him are missing; confusing to me. :shrug:

[NatBurner]

50. susan rice...

rowrr

[Labors of Hercules]

52. There is something strangely rowrr about her.

mmmmmmm... :P

[Catherina]

51. Where did you get that this is his Foreign Policy Team? I don't think so

That looks like just a roundtable discussion of a FP panel but not his team.

Here are the names I'm finding for his FP team

Obama's Mideast Experts Emphasize Talks
Former Diplomats Help Senator Hone Possible Agenda
By JAY SOLOMON
June 16, 2008; Page A7

WASHINGTON -- In fine-tuning his foreign-policy agenda, Barack Obama is turning to a core group of Middle East experts who have spent more than a decade, in Democratic and Republican administrations, exploring avenues to engaging Iran and Syria.

Chief among them are Dennis Ross, former President Clinton's lead Mideast negotiator; James Steinberg, a deputy national-security adviser under Mr. Clinton; and Daniel Kurtzer, a career diplomat who developed Mideast policy under President Bush and his father.


Some of these experts, such as Messrs. Ross and Steinberg, don't describe themselves as formally part of Sen. Obama's campaign for president. But their involvement illustrates the increasing influence on Sen. Obama's thinking of some of the Democratic Party's foreign-policy veterans, now that the long nominating process is over.

These three men were among the principal authors of Sen. Obama's speech this month on the Middle East before a pro-Israel lobbying group, according to the Obama campaign. The speech was viewed as the candidate's most expansive yet on international affairs. The U.S. senator from Illinois pledged during the address to break from the Bush administration and explore high-level engagements with Iran and Syria in a bid to stabilize Iraq and the broader Middle East.

In interviews, these strategists describe a campaign that sees potential diplomatic openings in the Middle East should Sen. Obama be elected in November and begin pulling U.S. combat troops out of Iraq. But they also acknowledged that there are real lessons to be learned from previous U.S. efforts to engage Tehran and Damascus, during the 1990s, which drew mixed results.

...

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121358442119676435.html

and

...

The names of the core team are probably unfamiliar to most Americans, so I'm listing them below:

McDonough, a former foreign-policy adviser to ex-Senate majority leader Tom Daschle and outspoken on climate change and energy issues.

Mark Lippert, Obama's principal staffer on the Senate foreign relations committee and just returning from a tour as a naval reservist in Iraq.

Ben Rhodes, principal Obama speechwriter on national security, who helped write the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group report that advocated engagement with Iran and Syria.

Anthony Lake, President Clinton's first national security adviser.

Susan Rice, assistant secretary of state for African affairs under Clinton.

Richard Danzig, Clinton's secretary of the Navy, who has been a consultant to the Department of Defense on bioterrorism.

Jonathan Scott Gration, a retired two-star general, who helped run the air war during the Iraq invasion.

Gregory Craig, lead defense lawyer for Clinton during his impeachment, who also served as director of policy planning for the State Department at the end of the Clinton administration.

Sarah Sewall, a deputy assistant secretary of defense for peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance under Clinton; she worked with Gen. David Petraeus.

Samantha Power, journalist, Harvard professor, was a close adviser until forced to resign because of an interview in which she disparaged Hillary Clinton.

The campaign also consults regularly with former Sens. Sam Nunn and David Boren on defense issues. What is unnerving is that the core group seems to have scant expertise in the area that will most confound our next president: the Middle East.

...

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-rubin0617.artjun17,0,2814897.story

[JohnnyLib2]

53. Yes, seems like there may be some confusion here. ??

[Adelante]

54. Senior advisors on foreign policy and national security

It's different from the policy team.

[kentuck]

56. I notice that General Wesley Clark is sitting at his left in one photo?

And General Clark appears to be studying him very closely? I don't want to read too much into this but we may be looking at one of the favorites for the VP?

[catgirl]

59. Thanks!