UPDATE: This story suggests a growing bandwagon for Obama is starting to roll.
The polls are suggesting that Obama may be the Democratic nominee. I don’t like McCain’s chances against a charismatic young man who would also be the first black president. Let’s do a mental exercise and consider a President Obama. He has no executive experience of any kind but neither do Hillary or McCain. That is not that unusual but governors have generally done better on presidential politics for this reason. The last two Democrats to be elected president, Carter and Clinton, were former governors. On the other hand, we have seen that the federal bureaucracy is a Democrat-voting institution so maybe Democrats have to rely less on managerial skills since their agenda is aligned with the bureaucracy’s agenda. Bush has failed to get a lot of things done because the State Department and CIA were actively working to thwart him. That would not be a problem for Obama. He and State and CIA are in agreement. What do they agree on ?
First, the Iraq War was a mistake. Second, the Afghan War is a mistake. Third, the Global War on Terror is a mistake. Oh, they don’t exactly say that. Kevin Drum thinks they say that and he is a supporter. What does Obama say ? He answered a question at a campaign stop.
In prepared remarks that his campaign released, Mr. Obama plans to propose sending two additional troop brigades to Afghanistan and making military aid to Pakistan contingent on whether that country makes “substantial progress in closing down the training camps, evicting foreign fighters, and preventing the Taliban from using Pakistan as a staging area for attacks in Afghanistan.
What does this mean ? If Mushareff cannot stop the Taliban from using the tribal areas for a base of operations, will Obama stop aid to Pakistan ? We recently attacked a Taliban leader in Pakistan using a Predator drone. Does Obama support the Bush administration in this ? Why not say so?
When I am president, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan; developing the capabilities and partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world’s most deadly weapons; engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland.
What does that mean ? If we get out of Iraq, won’t that be seen as a defeat ? Osama (not Obama) has been quoted as saying, “when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse.” Wouldn’t a precipitous retreat from Iraq, followed by chaos and an al Qeada revival, be seen as the acts of a “weak horse?”
I don’t know how the elections will turn out but I do believe that a victory by Obama in the fall election will be seen as an American retreat from the world. Some people see that as positive, especially those people in Berkeley who rank Marine recruiting stations with adult bookstores. They are big Obama supporters.
We may yet get to see how the equivalent of a Henry Wallace Vice-President nomination in 1944 would have played out. Some of us have believed that FDR knew he was doomed and chose Harry Truman because he did not want to risk Henry Wallace, his Vice-President from 1940 to 1944, succeeding him. We may get a chance to find out what it would have been like, had the other scenario taken place. Obama is a former Muslim who is willing to reverse all the anti-terrorism policies of the Bush Administration. How would that work out ? We may learn.
UPDATE: His legislative record is also undistinguished.
I agree that Obama is scary. It’s true he doesn’t have much of a record, but his ACU rating is at eight percent:
http://www.acuratings.org/2006senate.htm
And the National Journal has listed Obama as the most liberal member of the Senate this year:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/2008/01/obama_ranked_most_liberal_sena_1.html
So what I am hoping is, if he gets the nomination, we can start asking concrete questions about policies and positions. Up until this point, we know he is a decent looking young-ish man with a good voice. But we have heard mostly platitudes.
We’ll see.
I do think that the Clinton machine will grind him into dust, though. But I could be wrong!
The Berkley town council is behaving abominably. Their narrow-mindedness and intolerance is shockingly sad.
Nancy, Berkley has had its own foreign policy for decades. I just think they should be allowed to support that foreign policy without federal help. I don’t recommend discriminating against residents but the city, itself, should be on its own. If you have visited, you will notice that it is a dump. I stayed in the Shattuck Hotel, adjacent to the Marine Recruiting Office, last September and there was water dripping through the ceiling of the first room we were assigned.
As usual, the well-to-do in Berkeley get all the press. The regular folk in the area need to let the country know that the city council does not speak for them!
But yes, Dr. K., Berzerkely is a little…well, crunchy granola…for my taste. And I loved the recent event where a pro-Israeli speaker was barred from speaking…very near Free Speech Park.
Some animals are more equal than others.