Obama SmackDown Series: Hillary Clinton Flips on diplomacy

[jefferson_dem]

Run time: 06:12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyqAR4lJCmw   Posted on YouTube: July 26, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: July 27, 2007 By DU Member: jefferson_dem Views on DU: 955

 
I'm using the youtube poster's subject line.

It's actually a pretty thorough video compilation of Obama vs. Hillary on diplomacy (from the Obama perspective, of course).

[illinoisprogressive]

1. I love the stuff by lovingj.

[silverweb]

2. Well done.

Couldn't be clearer.

GObama!

[bahrbearian]

3. She left herself some wiggle room by saying not in the First year.

You see, you need to let these problems simmer for a year , maybe even let them come to a boil.

[Hulk]

4. She only hit a "foul ball"...not the homerun she thought...

Hillary's playing a little fox noise tactic here. Is she trying to paint Obama as an idiot?...a naive new kid on the block? She had better be careful, or she's going to lose what credibility she has gained with these sorts of tactics.

[CanOfWhoopAss]

5. didn't realize it until she trotted to 3rd base hands in the air.(eom)

[NoFederales]

7. Well, how dare you draw parallels for the sheeple!

:yourock:

NoFederales

[lvx35]

6. Yeah, good stuff.

I missd that part of the debate, but I gotta say it was a big winner for Obama seeing it now.

[JAbuchan08]

8. I agree Hillary played a little fox-news style twisting of

Obamas comments.

[Limelight]

9. I think her point was misunderstood...

There is a big difference between a country getting a face to face meeting with The President of the United States of America and them having a high level envoy sent by the president (Secretary of State and the like).

If I'm the president I don't feel the need to put all my cards on the table right off the bat. We're going to arrange talks and visits from my best and most experienced diplomats. Then, when we see some progress and are starting to make some headway about what they're willing to give in return for whatever, now it's time for the face to face meeting. A one on one sitdown with the leader of the (for the most part) powerful nation in the world is indeed a reward to these other countries. Why just hand it out like candy when the better idea is to dole it out as the reward (for showing willingness to compromise) that it is.

I think Hillary and Obama are really just having what's close to a semantical argument. Both agree that diplomacy is important they just disagree on the method. Let the president be the main one taking on the burden (which is a legit idea by Obama) or let well trained, experienced diplomats whose guidlines and emphasis is determined by the president be the ones to break the ice determine whether there's really room to make headway before the president themselves step in to take the lead (which is Hillary's strategy).

Both are legitimate trains of thought. Seems to me they're far closer on this issue than they seem to think.

[Seabiscuit]

10. If they are that close on this issue, why did Hillary have to call Obama "naive"???

And why did she say she categorically wouldn't meet with any of these "during my first year" in office??? It doesn't take a year to pave the way diplomatically for such meetings.

[Limelight]

11. You're putting words in her mouth

She didn't say categorically she wouldn't meet with them she said I'm not going to promise to meet with them. She said each meeting like that is judged on a case by case basis. I see zero wrong with that. And perhaps he is niave if he doesn't at least acknowledge that a direct visit from the president could be played for reasonable dividends as propoganda for regimes like Iran and North Korea.

I understand where Obama is coming from and I see where Hillary is coming from. With guys like Chavez and Castro... Meh, they talk a good game, but don't have their own shit together enough to be players on the world stage beyond a couple of straight news cycles. Meeting with them isn't terribly high stakes. But folks like Iran, N. Korea, Syria and others are a big deal and I think it'd be wiser to let you diplomats pave the way before legitimizing them by having the President of the United States meet with them face to face.

I just think like someone else said Hillary tried to play it up as a homerun comment when in fact both points are valid thusly not be the big bang moment she was hoping for.

[Seabiscuit]

12. No, I'm not. Don't try to nuance her words.

She called Obama "naive" and said she had not intention of meeting with them/wouldn't meet with them during her first year. That's a pretty damned stupid thing to say, IMHO.

Obama never said he was going to rush to meet with any of them either, without diplomats first paving the way. He had a few seconds to answer the sound-byte question, and answered it simply and affirmatively. She was the only one to rule out meeting with them during her first year in office.