Obama: Don't Be Confused, I'm Serious About Ending War

[Coexist]

By Greg Sargent - March 7, 2008, 6:37PM

On the trail today in Wyoming, Obama responded to the revelation that top foreign policy adviser Samantha Power had suggested that he might not rely on his campaign pledges when crafting a withdrawal plan as president.

From a transcript emailed out by the campaign...

She was quoted either this morning or last night in Mississippi because one of my advisors had said that in a interview overseas that well Senator Obama would not...he has given a time frame for withdrawal, but obviously it would be subject to decisions and the situation at the time.

And so, Senator Clinton used this to try to imply that I wasn’t serious about bringing this war to an end. I just have to mention this because I don’t want anybody here to be confused.

Power didn't merely say in the interview that Obama's withdrawal would be "subject to decisions and the situation at the time." She also said: "He will, of course, not rely on some plan that he’s crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator."

Obama also strongly reiterated his initial opposition to the war, and suggested that her initial support for the war should undermine the credibility of her criticism of him on it: "I don’t want to play politics on this issue because she doesn’t have standing to question my position on this issue."

Presuming that Hillary will continue to hit Obama for his alleged lack of commander in chief cred, the question in the days ahead will be whether Obama can effectively counter this by pointing to her lack of real live commander-in-chief experience and to her failure of judgment in supporting the war. We'll find out if it's enough.

My .02 - he is very serious about this. The $$ for his infrastructure rebuilding plan comes from cash not sent to Baghdad.

[MrCoffee]

1. Any candidate who says they can propose a withdrawal plan today

that will be completely valid when they take office is flat-out lying.

[Coexist]

2. there is more:

"Now what is true is that I want to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in. And I want to make sure that our troops are protected and safe as we are withdrawing them and I don’t want us to see Iraq collapse which is why I have put out the most detailed plan in terms of making sure that we have humanitarian aid in place and making sure that we are working with the Iraqis to negotiate diplomatically inside the country as well as the regional powers there and that we have a international commission to monitor against war crimes that might occur as we are pulling out.

So we have to be very careful but we’re going to end this war. And when we end this war what I want to be able to do is go before the world community and say America is back. America is back and we are ready to lead once again. We are ready to lead. We are ready to lead on the issues that matter."

[MrCoffee]

7. What's wrong with that statement?

It's policy goals that can be met, or at least worked toward, with an eye on the actual situation on the ground.


It's blanket statements like, "We will withdraw all American troops from Iraq by ______ date" that are facially absurd.

[Coexist]

8. I agree.

but I think that a date can be moved, based on what is going on. To me, it is better to pick a date, a goal, so that it can be worked toward, sometimes a looming deadline can be used as a motivator.

[rodeodance]

3. Ha--abc. eve news just said BO was in "damage control" over this!! YUP

[DURHAM D]

9. Yep - poor baby. eom

[anamandujano]

12. He did not answer what that Power said, only brought up his speech again.

[carlotta]

4. Sorry, Obama, but I AM confused

Ya keep changin' your story. What's a citizen to do?

[rug]

5. In 2009, depending, he hopes.

Look a sunbeam!

[Texas Hill Country]

10. LOL. Now that is funny.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

6. The "what Barack meant" train rolls on...

[Neshanic]

11. The never ending surgical disection needed to find out what he or his wife really means when they

open their mouths.

He nor Hillary will get us out of Iraq.