July 4, 2008
What Did The Young Turks Say About Obama Sending Up Smoke Signals on an Iraq Flip-Flop?
Oh, yeah, I remember now.
I watched this press conference live, by the way — poor Barry always sounds like he has a mouthful of marbles when somebody asks him a question and he has to go off-script.
Anyway, about that 16-month timeline for pulling out of Iraq:
Obama Might ‘Refine’ Iraq Timeline Original Post | 2:28 p.m.: FARGO, N.D. — Senator Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot sustain a long-term military presence in Iraq, but added that he would be open to “refine my policies” about a timeline for withdrawing troops after meeting with American military commanders during a trip to Iraq later this month.
Mr. Obama, whose popularity in the Democratic primary was built upon a sharp opposition to the war and an often-touted 16-month gradual timetable for removing combat troops, dismissed suggestions that he was changing positions in the wake of reductions in violence in Iraq and a general election fight with Senator John McCain. …
As he arrived for a campaign stop in North Dakota, Mr. Obama told reporters on Thursday that he intended to conduct “a thorough assessment” of his Iraq policy during a forthcoming trip to the country. He stressed that he has long called for a careful and responsible withdrawal of American forces, but he declined to offer a fresh endorsement of his plan to remove one to two combat brigades a month. …
It’s been more than two years since Mr. Obama has visited Iraq, which Republicans have used as a point of criticism. After dismissing an invitation from Mr. McCain to visit Iraq together this summer as a “political stunt,” Mr. Obama began making preparations for his own trip to Iraq. …
Update | 4:15 p.m.: Republicans seized on Mr. Obama’s remarks, saying he was stepping away from the position he took in the Democratic primary campaign. …
Brian Rogers, a McCain spokesman, issued the following statement:
“Since announcing his campaign in 2007, the central premise of Barack Obama’s candidacy was his commitment to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq immediately. He campaigned in Iowa, New Hampshire and across the country reaffirming this pledge to the American people.“Today, Barack Obama reversed that position proving once again that his words do not matter. He has now adopted John McCain’s position…
“Now that Barack Obama has changed course and proven his past positions to be just empty words, we would like to congratulate him for accepting John McCain’s principled stand on this critical national security issue. …”
Update | 7:50 p.m.: FARGO, N.D. — As a presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama has not been known for holding an abundance of news conferences. That was not the case here on Thursday, when he called two in a span of four hours. …
“We’re going to try this again,” Mr. Obama said, standing behind a lectern that was hastily set up on the lawn of a park here. “Apparently I wasn’t clear enough this morning on my position with respect to the war in Iraq.” …
So does Mr. Obama still stand behind his proposed timeline to withdraw the majority of American combat troops in 16 months, at a pace of one or two a month? …
“I’ve also said that I would be deliberate and careful in how we got out, that I would bring our troops home at a pace of one to two brigades per month and that pace would have our combat troops out in 16 months. That position has not changed. I have not equivocated on that position, I am not searching for maneuvering room with respect to that position.”
Mr. Obama’s positions on Iraq have never tilted as far left as many Democrats would have preferred — remember a debate last year when he declined to say specifically when troops would be out of Iraq? — his statements here provided the latest indication of the way changing circumstances in Iraq have added fresh challenges to keep anti-war supporters on his side while pursuing what he calls a responsible end to the war. …
In the end, one of the biggest differences between Mr. Obama’s first and second appearances in front of the cameras here on Thursday was his emphasis. The first time, he did not include a line saying that he specifically intended to end the war. By the time he returned for Take Two, that line was a prominent one. …
I’m not going to quibble about this — after all, I never believed his overly-optimistic timeframe to begin with (and I still don’t). And I’m sure he hasn’t actually flip-flopped on this one; rather, nobody ever pressed him to make the specifics of this — or any other action he had in mind — clear until after he became The Presumptuous Nominee. (You Obama supporters just kept repeating to us mean ol’ skeptics: “Go to his site! Read his site! It’s all on his site!” Newsflash: It wasn’t “all on his site.”)
And now? Now, he’s just showing his true colors — and shortly, he’ll “clarify” what he said today, and it will be everybody else’s fault that they misunderstood what “have our combat troops out in 16 months” really meant. It could mean he’ll have them out of Iraq, and into Iran. Or Pakistan.
But, hey, at least he’s being as honest as he can be for the moment, so you can’t blame him if we’re all too stupid to have understood what he meant in the first place (or the second, or the twenty-third…). And it’s not his fault his followers elected to be misled… right?
So, what’s left for him to use to dismay and betray his increasingly disillusioned fan base? Umm… Oh, yeah! He hasn’t come out in favor of torture. Yet.
That would be the last bean in the enchilada. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised to wake up tomorrow to hear that he’s done just that.
I know: Bitch, bitch, bitch, moan, moan, moan, and where’s my answer to the question, “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Obama?”
There is no answer — anymore. The answer was to vet the guy properly before believing all his sweet talk, before you discovered he’d left before morning, and isn’t calling you back.
Mr. Conservative Democrat is all there is now, and there’s no turning back the clock.
That’s why I finally contacted Cynthia McKinney’s campaign tonight to get some info. If she can satisfy my dealmaker prequisite — a firm and irrevocable commitment to marriage equality, on the federal level (as the rest of her positions are, so far, A-OK with me) — I’ll not only vote for her, but I’ll work my ass off for her.
And while I’m not wild about the organizational structure of the Green Party, it’s the only viable (and worthy) third-party contender there is. If enough of us put the kind of muscle (and money) into the Greens as we’ve wasted on the Democrats since 1996, a Greenie could be in the White House within a generation.
And that’s what irks me about the Greens: They refuse to accept that taking the White House isn’t an overnight deal — building a party takes many years.
(So why bother with McKinney now? Honestly, because I don’t not vote, and since I will vote, I’m going to vote my conscience. And what if McKinney is a wash-out on LGBT equality? I’ll figure that out if it happens. Hey, as a Democrat, I learned not to plan too far ahead. They took Kucinich away from me, and Gravel… and then the Libertarians took Gravel away from me all over again. So, the answer is: I don’t know yet. And I’d sooner jam hot fireplace pokers through my skull than vote for McCain or Barr.)
For now, however, I am happily independent. Believe me, it feels as liberating as leaving the Catholic Church did.
Only… I don’t think I ever did as much Penance as a Catholic as I did as a Democrat.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Election 2008, Green Party, Iraq, John McCain
