"The group, Democratic Courage, has accused Clinton of making policy decisions on the basis of polls, not convictions."Uh, who among the Democrats running for president isn't guilty of this? Maybe Kuchy (if he can seriously be said to be a candidate)? I've heard that Obama opposed the Iraqi War, but I'd say he was armchair quarterbacking in "taking that stance" as a state senator (and is now Monday-morning quarterbacking).
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I've heard that Obama opposed the Iraqi War, but I'd say he was armchair quarterbacking in "taking that stance" as a state senator
Eh, perhaps more like armchair coaching, and in this case, his analysis was a bit more prescient than the "coach" himself.
Sean,
Thanks for digging that up and posting it.
"Armchair" being the operative term. Obama wasn't the only Democrat saying those things (or heck, even acknowledging--as a D or an R, those "downsides" about the strategy), but being in the U.S. Senate and voting a certain way is different than giving a campaign speech on the subject. Other Dems might have said crap like this, What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income – to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. But knew that the issues was more "nuanced," shall we say, than armchair legislators were conceding.
Ned,
Actually it was those on the armchairs who were looking at the nuance, not the legislators who were getting phone calls from a bunch of angry, drunken rednecks asking them to go to war.
Even if you deny his assertions that Saddam wasn't a threat, but his statement, "I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda," was pretty dead on.
"Angry, drunken rednecks"? I know you're just trying to make a point, but . . .
Obama frames the issue nicely in that speech, but I'm not sure he was more prescient that anyone else on these assertions (though I disagree with the "fan the flames" argument) . . . and while I would have to say that other Democratic leaders appear to have not believed the rhetoric they were using at the time or to have done a 180, it was one thing to be a state legislator talking about what he would do and another to actually do it. Obama strikes me as too ambitious, too opportunistic and too extraordinary (as far as pols go) to have been willing to stand alone among Dem leaders at the time. But who knows.
Obama strikes me as too ambitious, too opportunistic and too extraordinary (as far as pols go) to have been willing to stand alone among Dem leaders at the time.
It wasn't that out of the mainstream of the Democratic party to vote against it...in fact, the majority of Democrats did vote against the resolution...23 He would have been in company with Dick Durbin, Russ Feingold, Lincoln Chaffee, Paul Wellstone and others.
He gave the speech at an anti-war rally, something he chose to attend, he wasn't just asked his opinion...so clearly, he felt passionate about the issue, and it is indicative of his education in foreign policy.
Hillary, on the other hand, in her speech invoked 9/11 as a reason to support the Iraq War resolution, and with a showing of complete ignorance, said that her vote wasn't a rush to war, but "a vote that puts awesome responsibility in the hands of our President and we say to him - use these powers wisely and as a last resort," when nearly everyone at the time new damn good and well that Bush had every intention to invade Iraq, short of Saddam giving up power and going to the Hague to be tried for war crimes.
Correction, the majority of Democrats in the House voted against the resolution, while a slim majority in the Senate voted for it.
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