Obama leads in foreign policy, Bush follows, and McCain preoccupies himself with lesser matters
September 12th, 2008 at 10:03am Pat Cunningham
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Andrew Sullivan SAYS Barack Obama “has been president for quite a while already.”
When Obama suggested 13 months ago that the United States should make military incursions into Pakistan in pursuit of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, if intelligence reports warrant them, John McCain scoffed at the notion of invading a “sovereign” country.
But now comes word that President Bush secretly approved orders in June allowing American forces to conduct ground operations in Pakistan without consent of the Islamabad government.
Bush’s strategy in this regard, which mirrors Obama’s advice, has made McCain suddenly silent on the matter. Perhaps Mr. Straight Talk is too preoccupied by such issues as lipstick on pigs.
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9 Comments Add your own
1. Optimistic1 | September 12th, 2008 at 10:12 am
So your point is Obama is more like Bush on this topic?
2. bannernews | September 12th, 2008 at 10:50 am
No Bush was too ignorant to figure it out by himself.
3. keith | September 12th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Cunningham is saying that Obama understands foreign policy better than Bush and McCain.
Obama suggested pulling out troops in Iraq within 16 months. Now the Iraqi government agrees with Obama while Bush stubbornly disagrees.
Obama suggests going after terrorists in Pakistan if Pakistan won’t take them on. Obama was laughed at and characterized as one who would irresponsibly invade another country. Obama suggests small incursions against known terrorist locations, not a widespread invasion of an entire country. (Somehow it is ok for Bush to invade a sovereign nation, but Obama is reckless if he even comes close to another country’s borders). Now we know Bush authorized the same action that Obama suggested.
Obama thinks we took our eye off the prize in Afghanistan in favor of invading Iraq. Obama says we’re losing in Afghanistan and that we should send more troops there to complete the job that Bush abandoned years ago. Now Bush and McCain agree with Obama.
Where Obama has been right on foreign policy, Bush and McCain have followed.
And while we’re on the topic of foreign policy, Sarah Palin doesn’t even know what the Bush Doctrine is. Astonishing!
4. Milton Waddams | September 12th, 2008 at 11:33 am
What it means is that Obama could be saying “I told you so” right now or offering the Repubs some salt and pepper for their crow.
5. Former Rockfordian | September 12th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Thank God Rockford still has the sane voice of Pat Cunningham. Unfortunately, most people in that blue-collar, red state town don’t get it. Obama is the ONLY choice for president if we are to regain our stature, prominence and respect in the world. Of course, they would argue, “Who cares about what the world thinks?” My answer, “WE should.” Bush has not been a team player in all his 8 years of mucking up in office. Partisan politics is his game. He is THE worst president this country has ever seen. His legacy? Bringing about the end of the America we all knew and loved. It’ll take years, if ever, to dig ourselves out of the mess he has put us in. His Republican congress of 6 years did NOTHING for anyone, except make his cronies rich with no-bid contracts. The 2 years of the Democratic congress is powerless to change anything until that man is out of office, which will not be soon enough.
6. Pat Cunningham | September 12th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Former Rockfordian: Politically speaking, Rockford is a blue town in a red county in a blue state.
7. Optimistic1 | September 12th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Banner- So was Sen Obama ignorant not to see the success of the surge coming around the curve, or was that totally different? Either he was ignorant, or it was a great move by W to listen to Petraeus and fight the opposition from the left to do it. You decide. Sen Obama missed that one completely and now admits it.
Am I understanding the situation correctly? Sen Obama is saying we should have kept troops in Afghanistan after Karzai called for withdrawal and after NATO started replacing US troops there in 2006? Sounds eerily like what the Left has called “Occupation” in Iraq for what Bush has done. Did Sen Obama lead on that concept too or was it W? I believe Keith called it “Abandoning” in Afghanistan, but it is smart policy in Iraq for Obama? Which is it? Bush is always ignorant no matter what move I understand, but it gets interesting when you actually start comparing what Sen Obama would actually do in the same situations. Looking at the above situation, one could make argument Obama is following Bush on foreign policy, and that would truly be astonishing considering all are jacked up for Sen Obama’s “Change” platform.
This article is shocking to read, we are such Monday Morning Quarterbacks! Did 73% of us agree with going after terrorist in places like Iraq before Iraq began?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/25/opinion/main325710.shtml
8. Uncle Bouncy | September 12th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Obama =warmonger
nuance, I guess
9. Milton Waddams | September 12th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
It is probably mostly the same people who believed the connection between 9-11 and Saddam Hussein that BushCo hammered into the American public’s heads. Some of us are able to think for ourselves, however and understand geopolitics a little better. By this I mean that we understood that the SECULAR Baathist government in Iraq (yes a tyrannical dictator, but not an islamofascist) DID NOT tolerate religious terrorists like Al Qaeda. When we removed that secular government, Al Qaeda moved in. Don’t get me wrong Saddam Hussein was a horrible dictator, and I am glad he’s gone, however the ends don’t justify the means. He did have WMD back in the day, we know this because we sold them to him for the war with Iran, but he didn’t have them anymore. When we invaded, he was contained and no threat to us.
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