The Foreign Policy Experience of Barack Obama

[bigtree]

In response to the question of Barack Obama's experience in foreign and military affairs, we have five points which HE has offered in rebuttal to Hillary Clinton . . .

1) He's lived overseas.

2) He has family overseas.

3) He has served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

4) He made a speech in 2002 opposing the Iraq resolution and Bush's plan to invade.

5) He doesn't get rattled.


article: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Vote2008/Story?id=43746...


Obama: 'How Do You Know Any President Is Ready?'

"Look, I've lived overseas," said Obama. "I have family overseas. I have served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."

As for Clinton's experience in the White House, Obama is dubious. "It is true that I've not lived in the White House," he said. "Although, one of the tough things about Sen. Clinton's campaign has been the degree to which she takes credit for good things that happened and doesn't take credit for bad things that happened."


The Foreign Policy Activism of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5247676&mesg_id=5247676

[Johnny__Motown]

1. and he has not been shot at by snipers...... same as Hillary

[clevbot]

2. good point

[trained specialist]

32. Um, what did he DO on the foreign relations committee?

As we know, he is Chairman of one and sort of never had time to meet.

[Dems Will Win]

40. He forged a bi-partisan bill to check loose nukes in Russia with Richard Lugar

Perhaps those don't bother you however.

[bigtree]

46. one bill. not very much foreign affairs experience to be found there.

how's that checking of Russia's nukes going, anyhow?

[dchill]

42. But maybe he should say...

that he HAS. You know, to pad the old resume.
;)

[kentuck]

3. Nobody is prepared to be President...

until they are President. The number of years in Washington is meaningless. The important things are judgement, intelligence, and decision-making abilities.

[VolcanoJen]

6. Even President Bush isn't prepared to be President.

Seven years later.

[bigtree]

7. Hillary Clinton has more experience. Significant experience. That point isn't negated

. . . by saying, 'Nobody is prepared to be President, until they're president'. She has a unique record of experience which far outmatches her rival in this campaign. That's not insignificant to how they would execute that foreign policy. I provided a link to an evaluation of Hillary Clinton's efforts as First Lady abroad.

[kentuck]

14. We cannot step into the same stream twice.

The White House she would enter would be totally different from the White House that she left.

[bigtree]

16. yet, many of the contacts she made during that time are still there for her

And, she has the advantage of having actually engaged in sensitive diplomacy. I think that this discussion often trivializes her role and her efforts as First Lady. It's clear (to me) that the range and intensity of her experiences abroad on behalf of the United States and on behalf of her husband, the president, give her a unique and significant perspective on the very important subject of managing these relations with countries and foreign leaders abroad.

[kentuck]

23. But many of her "contacts" have gone over to Obama?

Will that help him?

[bigtree]

24. foreign contacts, Kentuck. She obviously has a network of them by now.

And she has the experience to manage those relationships.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

28. Monical Lewinsky has more foreign policy experience than Hillary

Richardson Already Repaid Clintons -
or Monica Lewinsky's Foreign Policy Experience

...Richardson believes that, whatever he owes the Clintons for his appointments as Energy Secretary and United Nations Ambassador, he fully repaid his debt during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

It was Richardson, you'll remember, who went out of his way to hold open a job for Lewinsky at the U.N. Testimony before the independent counsel's grand jury showed that Richardson was unusually eager to accommodate Lewinsky. So when the scandal exploded, the news was not only embarrassing, but Richardson also had to endure hours of testimony before the grand jury. And a lot of the questions clearly made him uncomfortable.

In late 1998, when grand jury transcripts were made public, I wrote a story for the American Spectator about Richardson's role in the affair. After hearing about Lewinsky from White House chief of staff John Podesta, Richardson kept a sharp lookout for her promised resume. When it arrived, he acted quickly:

Richardson examined Lewinsky's resume the same afternoon it appeared on the fax machine. "I must say that the resume impressed me," he told prosecutors. "She worked in the Department of Defense....She had worked in the White House in legislative affairs....As a former congressman, I thought that was impressive." He testified that he told Watkins to set up an interview with Lewinsky.

more at the link

[bigtree]

49. typical right-wing inspired smear

nice

[zulchzulu]

30. Did she stick out her pinky when she tinkled teacups with other leaders' wives?

That is "significant experience".

:rofl:

[ClassWarrior]

4. Obama's FP Doctrine...

"The Obama Doctrine"
The American Prospect
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_obama_doctrine

NGU.

[bigtree]

11. Not much in that article about Obama's 'experience' in foreign affairs

I understand from the piece, that he has a 'brain trust' of advisers who would substitute for his deficit of experience.

[VolcanoJen]

5. And he was also not the first high-profile American to visit Bosnia after the accords.

Neither was Hillary (even though she claims she was).

Not really following your point, here, bigtree. Did Obama tell some kind of whopper about taking on sniper fire and what-not?

[bigtree]

8. No he has an insignificant amount of experience in foreign affairs

All of your diversions from that point don't cover for that fact.

[zulchzulu]

9. Here's more info on Obama's foreign policy experience etc.

Senator Barack Obama is on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations; Homeland Security; Veterans Affairs; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He's gone on three major trips overseas as part of an official Senate delegation, meeting with U.S. generals, and/or foreign leaders.

He and Senator Lugar traveled to the former Soviet states to inspect the destruction of WMDs; he traveled to Iraq and met with U.S. generals, and also toured Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian territories; he visited various African countries, including Kenya (his father's homeland).

Some of the countries he has visited while Senator:

2005
Moscow
Kiev
Baku
Azerbaijan

2006
Qatar
Kuwait
Iraq
Jordan
Israel
South Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kenya
Djibouti
Chad

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002595.php

Here is a list of some of those who worked with Bill Clinton who are now on Barack Obama's team:

For counterinsurgency strategy, Mr. Obama has Harvard University's Sarah Sewall, who worked in the Pentagon under President Clinton. Mr. Obama has Harvard University's Sarah Sewall, who worked in the Pentagon under President Clinton.

For overall security issues he leans on Mr. Clinton's former national security adviser, Anthony Lake.

What about fighting AIDS or boosting U.S. trade in Africa? For that and more, he has former Clinton administration diplomat Susan Rice.

(snip)

Mr. Ivo Daalder, who worked in the Clinton White House in the mid-1990s and is now at the Brookings Institution, describes the difference between Sens. Clinton and Obama as "the difference between what do we do about Iran and its nuclear program now versus how do we deal with nuclear proliferation writ large."

(snip)

Mr. Obama did get a well-timed boost recently from one of his party's foreign-policy eminences, Zbigniew Brzezinski. The 79-year-old former Carter national security adviser not only backed Mr. Obama but panned Mrs. Clinton's views as "very conventional" and merely a continuation of "what we had eight years ago."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118895877299317784.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Here is a list of advisors on his campaign team and description (some are mentioned above):

Former Amb. Jeffrey Bader, President Clinton’s National Security Council Asia specialist and now head of Brookings’s China center, national security adviser

Mark Brzezinski, President Clinton’s National Security Council Southeast Europe specialist and now a partner at law firm McGuireWoods, national security adviser

Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s national security adviser and now a Center for Strategic and International Studies counselor and trustee and frequent guest on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, foreign policy adviser

Richard A. Clarke, President Clinton and President George W. Bush’s counterterrorism czar and now head of Good Harbor Consulting and an ABC News contributor, sometimes Obama adviser

Gregory B. Craig, State Department director of policy planning under President Clinton and now a partner at law firm Williams & Connolly, foreign policy adviser

Roger W. Cressey, former National Security Council counterterrorism staffer and now Good Harbor Consulting president and NBC News consultant, has advised Obama but says not exclusive

Ivo H. Daalder, National Security Council director for European affairs during President Clinton’s administration and now a Brookings senior fellow, foreign policy adviser

Richard Danzig, President Clinton’s Navy secretary and now a Center for Strategic and International Analysis fellow, national security adviser

Philip H. Gordon, President Clinton’s National Security Council staffer for Europe and now a Brookings senior fellow, national security adviser

Maj. Gen. J. (Jonathan) Scott Gration, a 32-year Air Force veteran and now CEO of Africa anti-poverty effort Millennium Villages, national security adviser and surrogate

Lawrence J. Korb, assistant secretary of defense from 1981-1985 and now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, informal foreign policy adviser

W. Anthony Lake, President Clinton’s national security adviser and now a professor at Georgetown’s school of foreign service, foreign policy adviser

James M. Ludes, former defense and foreign policy adviser to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and now executive director of the American Security Project, national security adviser

Robert Malley, President Clinton’s Middle East envoy and now International Crisis Group’s Middle East and North Africa program director, national security adviser

Gen. Merrill A. ("Tony") McPeak, former Air Force chief of staff and now a business consultant, national security adviser

Denis McDonough, Center for American Progress senior fellow and former policy adviser to then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, foreign policy coordinator

Susan E. Rice, President Clinton’s Africa specialist at the State Department and National Security Council and now a Brookings senior fellow, foreign policy adviser

Bruce O. Riedel, former CIA officer and National Security Council staffer for Near East and Asian affairs and now a Brookings senior fellow, national security adviser

Dennis B. Ross, President Clinton’s Middle East negotiator and now a Washington Institute for Near East Policy fellow, Middle East adviser

Sarah Sewall, deputy assistant secretary of defense for peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance during President Clinton’s administration and now director of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, national security adviser

Daniel B. Shapiro, National Security Council director for legislative affairs during President Clinton’s administration and now a lobbyist with Timmons & Company, Middle East adviser

Mona Sutphen, former aide to President Clinton’s National Security adviser Samuel R. Berger and to United Nations ambassador Bill Richardson and now managing director of business consultancy Stonebridge, national security adviser

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/documents/the-war-over-the-wonks.html

[MadBadger]

10. Cuz so many of your friends have taken a vacation, I'll give you a rec.

You would have had like 8 or so

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. And, both of them, despite their "experience" voted to continue a lost war.

But, Hillary gets the prize for voting to start the war. Obama is "not as bad" because he's only voted to continue to fund it.

[bigtree]

13. They are imperfect on Iraq. They are not alone in that, among our elected officials

. . . or among those who voted for both of them, either.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. Which only proves that flag-waving and sacrificing lives for poltical ambtion

is widespread.

In the meantime, the slaughter and occupation continue while both spend millions improving their "image" as "leaders" and slinging shit at each other.

[bigtree]

25. Typical political campaign. This is how we elect our president.

I understand, because most of us willingly wallow right in. This is who we are, for better or worse.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

44. Well, I'll pass on wallowing in this round.

The stench has surpassed my nose-holding ability.

[zulchzulu]

31. Should Obama abandon the troops and veterans in harm's way?

A LOT of the legislation funding the war went to protecting the troops in harm's way and for veterans to have support when they got back. Should he have abandoned them?

As for trying to stop the funding, without the votes (there were just a fraction needed), it would have been futile.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

43. No money. No war.

Waging war is an expensive enterprise. As the "defense" budget so aptly indicates. Without the dough there isn't going to be a war.

Bring them home and pay the benefits they've earned.

[redqueen]

15. Sorry, but he at least has the good sense to know not to claim we gave Iraqis

the "gift of freedom".

Whatever her foreign policy experience is, it's failing her.

[bigtree]

17. He can't ride that one speech all over the world. He is still hamstrung by his very pedestrian votes

. . . he cast on Iraq once he got into the Senate.

Every Senator who voted to give Bush money for Iraq 'authorized' his occupation

Barack Obama was no exception. After Bush forced the U.N. inspectors out of Iraq with his preemptive invasion, Congress had every opportunity to refuse money for Bush to continue his military takeover there. At every step, with every 'emergency' funding request from the White House, the majority of Democrats in Congress (many who voted against the original Iraq resolution) refused to exercise their ONLY significant control they have on the president's ability to deploy troops without prior congressional approval, as presidents have done for decades. Congress refused to use the 'power of the purse' and reign Bush in by limiting or refusing funding.

Bush couldn't do a thing in Iraq without the money Congress provided him. As with President Clinton in Haiti and in Somalia, Congress has shown that they can force presidents to modify, limit, or end their military deployments by their control over the funding. With Iraq, there is NOTHING in the resolution, which folks claim 'authorized' Bush's invasion and five year occupation, which prevents or limits Congress' ability to withhold or modify the amount of money Bush has to continue his deployment. That's what makes the argument about the vote for the original resolution moot. At every step, until Democrats obtained the majority in Congress, the majority in our party have enabled Bush in every action he's taken in Iraq by providing him with all of the money he's requested.

That's what makes Barack Obama's claim of some high ground on top of the speeches he made against the Iraq resolution and Bush's invasion from outside of the Congress. When Sen. Obama assumed office, he didn't find one instance to speak out on Iraq from his elevated position until he saw fit to OPPOSE Sen. Kerry's 2005 bill requiring an immediate exit from Iraq and a timetable for withdrawal.

"We don't necessarily need a timetable, in the sense of a precise date for U.S. troop pullouts, but a time frame for such a phased withdrawal," Obama said, at the time of his rejection of immediate withdrawal from Iraq. This was his FIRST opportunity he had taken in his Senate office to repudiate Bush's occupation -- the first opportunity to put the meat behind his fine words in 2002 . . . 18 months into his term, and he blinked.

"I believe that U.S. forces are still a part of the solution in Iraq," Obama said in his Senate floor speech repudiating John Kerry's bill mandating an immediate end to the occupation. "Sufficient numbers of U.S. troops should be left in place to prevent Iraq from exploding into civil war, ethnic cleansing and a haven for terrorism," he said.

"Having visited Iraq," he said, "I am also acutely aware that a precipitous withdrawal of our troops, driven by congressional edict rather than the realities on the ground, will not undo the mistakes made by this administration. It could compound them."

Obama's first floor statement on Iraq is not the rejection of Bush's occupation that he's adopted as part of his presidential campaign. Nor are his subsequent votes, until he began his run for president in 2007, providing every cent Bush requested for Iraq. Upon arriving in the Senate, Sen. Obama supported every funding bill for Iraq, some $300 billion….until he started running for President: 2005 Vote # 117, HR1268, 5/10/05; 2005 Vote # 326, S1042, 11/15/05; 2006 Vote # 112, HR4939, 5/4/06; 2006 Vote # 239; 2006 Vote # 186, S2766, 6/22/06; HR5631, 9/7/06

As a Senate candidate in November 2003, Sen. Obama said he would have 'unequivocally' voted against war funding because it was the only way to oppose Bush on Iraq. "Just this week, when I was asked, would I have voted for the $87 billion dollars, I said 'no.' I said no unequivocally because, at a certain point, we have to say no to George Bush. If we keep on getting steamrolled, we are not going to stand a chance." Obama remarks, New Trier Democratic Organization forum, 11/16/03; Video

In fact, in September 2004, Obama suggested sending a "surge" of troops into Iraq would be an effective way to end the occupation. "If that strategy made sense and would lead ultimately to the pullout of U.S. troops but in the short term required additional troop strength to protect those who are already on the ground, then that's something I would support," Obama said.

Folks may well have adopted clear and unequivocal positions against the Iraq resolution and against Bush's invasion and occupation, but, Barack Obama is not a credible representation of that uncompromising stance which many have employed in their opposition to Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama has no credibility at all in criticizing Hillary Clinton for a vote he neglected to repudiate in any significant way once he went from just making speeches about Iraq to actually acting on those fine words.

[redqueen]

21. I never said he could "ride" that speech all over the world.

All I'm saying is he is *much* better at diplomacy. IMO.

[bigtree]

26. He hasn't demonstrated much of that. The speech certainly isn't 'diplomacy'

[redqueen]

27. Speeches are indeed an aspect of diplomatic skill. (nt)

[bigtree]

29. He can't ride that one speech forever, especially since he didn't act on it until 2005

. . . when he gave a speech on the Senate floor opposing Kerry's proposal for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq by stating that we needed to stay, to stabilize the government and fight 'terrorists'.

[redqueen]

34. One speech? How about the one where he didn't say we gave Iraqis the "gift of freedom"?

In every speech, he trumps her. IMO.

[bigtree]

35. and, I just KNOW you've listened extensively to Hillary Clinton's.

Here are some prizes from Sen. Obama:


"There is not much difference between my position and George Bush's position."

"There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported the war in Iraq."

September 19. Associated Press reports that Obama, running for Illinois Senate seat, would be willing to send more troops to Iraq if it would create conditions for eventual withdrawal. Says it would be "an extraordinary accomplishment" if U.S. could withdraw from Iraq in four years. Remains opposed to invasion decision.

Jan. 13. Obama tells Secretary of State designate Condoleeza Rice, in Senate confirmation hearing, that he is "rooting for success" in Iraq

[redqueen]

36. Why wouldn't I?

We just disagree. You can cite as many "gotcha" statements as you like, and if I cared to play that game, I could cite just as many from Clinton. What's the point?

[bigtree]

39. you just harped on Hillary's statement like it had some broad meaning

. . . that's the point.

[bigtree]

33. from the other post outlining her experience . . .

"Hers was a personal diplomacy rather than an institutional diplomacy. It substituted direct and individual contacts with foreign leaders for the carefully scripted interactions between diplomats occurring in an organizational context that characterized traditional diplomacy. In 1994 she accompanied President Clinton on a trip to Russia that was designed to strengthen ties between Bill Clinton and President Boris Yeltsin. During their discussions the first lady met with Naina Yeltsin. While leading U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics she met with Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland, who would go on to head the World Health organization, and discussed health care issues. Other trips would have her meeting with such leaders as South African President Nelson Mandela, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Hungarian Prime Minister Guka Horn, Zambian President Benjamin Mlkapa, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain, Ghana’s President Jerry Rawlings , the Dali Lama, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar of Slovakia.

Her diplomacy also highlighted the blurring of the boundary between domestic and foreign policy. The issues Hilary Rodham Clinton chose to stress were those which have long been a staple of American domestic politics: health, children, education, and the position of women in society. She saw them as key to America and the world’s future as well. “In the new global economy, individual countries and region would find it difficult to make economic or social progress if a disproportionate percentage of their female population remained poor, uneducated, unhealthy and disenfranchised. The first lady also recognized that differences in the two spheres of action, domestic and foreign, continued to exist. At one point in her memoirs she noted “my message abroad carried few of the political overtones of my proposals for specific policies at home . . .

http://www.allacademic.com/one/prol/prol01/index.php?cmd=prol01_search&offset=0&limit=5&multi_search_search_mode=publication&multi_search_publication_fulltext_mod=fulltext&textfield_submit=true&search_module=multi_search&search=Search&search_field=title_idx&fulltext_search=The+Foreign+Policy+Activism+of+First+Lady+Hillary+Rodham+Clinton
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5247676

[burythehatchet]

19. IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR IWR

[burythehatchet]

20. Barack has never taken sniper fire. He didn't raise the flag at Iwo Jima

and he didn't track down AlQ in Waziristan like HillDog.

[ProSense]

22. Hillary's foreign policy experience: traveled to a few places, gave a few speeches , and

fabricated the events, including sniper fire.


She should be disqualified for blatant and repeated lying!

[BigDDem]

37. "He has family overseas"

Barry has family overseas? WOW, I'm sold.
Hey, I have family overseas, guess I'm qualified.

:rofl:

[bigtree]

47. and,

he doesn't get rattled!

[JKaiser]

38. Oh no.. He is toast going against John McCain...!

I don't want the democrat to lose this november... Another loser candidate I will have to vote for..

[anonymous171]

41. How's foreign policy "experience" going to help anyone in the GE?

They'll be running against John fucking McCain! Even Hillary with her new "Rambo" personality can't compare to a POW.

[bigtree]

45. I'm thinking how it will help when they're elected

Not really concerned about beating McCain.

[bigtree]

48. kick

[ProSense]

50. Real foreign policy experience, snipers not included

Real foreign policy experience, snipers not included

[grantcart]

51. More than

Jefferson
Lincoln
Roosevelt, Teddy
Truman
Kennedy
Clinton, Bill