Obama’s Lack of an Iraq Plan
March 9th, 2008 at 09:40am Mark Noonan
From Gateway Pundit:
Just like his talk on NAFTA, it looks like Obama is not to be trusted with what he says on Iraq, either.
The American Mind has the transcript:STEPHEN SACKUR: Let me stop you just for a moment. You said that he’ll revisit it when he goes to the White House. So what the American public thinks is a commitment to get combat forces out within sixteen months, isn’t a commitment isn’t it?
POWER: You can’t make a commitment in whatever month we’re in now, in March of 2008 about what circumstances are gonna be like in Jan. 2009. We can’t even tell what Bush is up to in terms of troop pauses and so forth. He will of course not rely upon some plan that he’s crafted as a presidential candidate or as a US senator.
He will rely upon a plan, an operational plan that he pulls together, in consultation with people who are on the ground, to whom he doesn’t have daily access now as a result of not being the president.
So to think, I mean it would be the height of ideology, you know, to sort of say, well I said it therefore I’m going to impose it on whatever reality entreats me –
SACKUR: Ok, so the 16 months is negotiable?
POWER: It’s the best case scenario…
Power, of course, is now out due to calling Hillary a monster, but I think this is rather descriptive of the vacuity of Obama on foreign and defense policy. This is the man who has repeatedly said he’d “end” the war in Iraq in 2009…and here’s his senior foreign policy advisor saying, in essence, “well, we just don’t know”…and, of course, there’s nothing wrong with not knowing exactly what you’ll do come January 2009 but for crying out loud, if you don’t know then don’t go making fool statements implying that you do know!
I was wandering around a book store on Saturday and espied Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, and it occured to me just how inane that title is…like something put together by a publisher using a focus group to figure out a title which sounds best. And it does sound good, but it doesn’t actually mean anything - being hopeful is audacious? If you are audacious you’ll be hopeful? I figure an earlier version of the title was Yes We Can Have Audacious Hope - but it was rejected as too many words for a liberal to grasp all at once…
This man, Barack Obama: no executive experience; minimal legislative experience; never held a job which required results…a lot of words. That is all.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Democrats, Kook Left, War on Terror
45 Comments
1. SEW | March 9th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Obama lied. More people will die! Obama is selling out to big oil, Halliburton and Exxon so he and Rezko can acquire more wealth.
Impeach Obama. He just wants the oil.
2. bagni | March 9th, 2008 at 10:09 am
omarkma
the spacejunkies agree with your assessment
the audacity of hope sounds like a focus group title
do you think frank luntz facilitated this group?
isn’t he the guy…that compiles “a lot of words”
that are relevant to human voters?
i think now…the word ‘hypocritical’ would apply?
please help us out….expound
cuz as usual……we’re bewildered?
3. hermie | March 9th, 2008 at 10:13 am
This is the essence of Obama: He has no real principles or policy, but he makes pretty speeches that make women faint and reporters gush about how wonderful he is.
He runs on a promise of pulling out the troops, but then privately says he doesn’t know what he’ll do when he becomes President. He’ll have to know what the situation is. Didn’t the all-knowing Obama say he was right about Iraq, and he didn’t even need intelligence reports, committee briefings or rely on those Generals who according to Democrats, can’t be believed?
Why doesn’t anyone ask: If this guy is a ‘reformer’, why did he go along with the corruption in Chicago and Springfield? Where was he in the fight against political corruption? Where was his ‘leadership’ where leadership was needed most?
Illinois finances are in horrific shape. As a member of the state Senate, Obama contributed to this mess. Where was his ‘leadership’ regarding the crisis of state pension funds? It’s still not resolved. Where was his ‘leadership’ when it came to the state budget?
Obama was just another good soldier in Springfield, who happened to be in the good graces of the party bosses. He ingratiated himself with these bosses and people like Tony Rezko, and he was rewarded with the US Senate seat.
Obama has spent most of his Senate term either running for President or hawking his books. Nothing indicates that this man is serious about actually fighting corruption or easing the burden on taxpayers.
He is another tax and spend liberal whose biggest weapon is his charisma. It’s too bad that those who have contributed to his campaign or swooned over his pretty speeches, haven’t taken the time to look at what he says versus what he has done.
4. JD | March 9th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Of all current and former candidates in the 2008 presidential election Ron Paul has the best plan to fix the Cheney/Bush disaster in Iraq.
5. FmrMarine | March 9th, 2008 at 10:48 am
JD
“the best plan to fix the Cheney/Bush disaster in Iraq.”
Dont you mean the UN Iraq war?
6. Christian Wright | March 9th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
McCain’s entire staff is made from lobbyists and he openly claimed he thinks Americans are okay with the idea of our brave men and women staying in Iraq for a thousand years.
I take a chance on Obama.
7. phil | March 9th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Have you no sense of irony at all Mark? You have been one of the foremost boosters of President Bush for the last 7+ years, you have cheered his every move as he and his morally and intellectually handicapped advisers developed and then executed their plans for the Iraq war. To say that those plans, and the execution therof, were a disaster understates the case by several orders of magnitude. And now you have the gall to complain about Obama’s war planning? Wake up, Mark! Whatever Obama’s plan is or might be it could hardly be worse than what your man Bush has done for us during his tenure. Keep in mind that the latest estimates of the full accounting for the war now run to $3 trillion, that’s $30,000 for each American family including yours. And the world is a much more dangerous place after all the wasted spending and lives GWB made on our behalf.
One can easily see the development of your strategy to pin the whole sorry enterprise on the next occupant of the White House thereby absolving your guy Bush of his responsibility for the disastrous consequences. But thankfully people (including you, I suspect) know the truth; your overzealous re-writing of history will do nothing to change it. Before you can be honest with other people, Mark, you first need to be honest with yourself. Forget the silly over-the-top partisanship for a minute and take a look in the mirror. Be honest with yourself!
Have a great day!
Phil
8. Mark Noonan | March 9th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Bagni,
There is a growing body of thought that Obama is actually a Rovian plant to ensure that Halliburton comes out on top, come what may…so, I guess it is possible that GOPer Luntz (a long-known tool of the Cheney/Rove/Halliburton/Vermont Teddy Bear cabal) was involved…
9. JD | March 9th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
FmrMarine
No, I mean specifically the Cheney/Bush debacle/disaster/quagmire in Iraq. They were responsible for lying US into the mess we now find ourselves. They made the choice to invade and occupy Iraq.
Semper Fi
10. Mark Noonan | March 9th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Phil,
One of the funniest things I saw in that stroll through the bookstore was a new book about Iraq - can’t remember the exact title, but it was something along the lines of “Defeat: How America and Britain Lost Iraq”…meanwhile, we’re marching from victory to victory in Iraq…I guess, though, there is a market for such a book…you, after all, are still convinced that Iraq is a disaster…
11. neocon | March 9th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Mark,
The audience that that book enjoys are people like Phil. Void of any reasonable, critical thought instead only reacting slavishly to the propaganda du jour.
Have a great day!
12. neocon | March 9th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
JD,
While your baseless assertions played well in 2006, it is now 2008 and you have obviously missed the last several DNC talking point memos. Please try and keep up with current events and/or at the very least request a new DNC mentor. Your current one has failed you miserably.
13. Barack Obama News »&hellip | March 9th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
[…] Read the rest of this great post here […]
14. js | March 9th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
tHEY WiLl SaY aNy ThiNG yOU wANT tO HEar To WIn.
15. phx | March 9th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Well, I was with you in the first part of your post there, but then you took a right turn and went off on the title of his book like you thought you were still scoring points on that sillness. And then you took another turn to close mumbling about his lack of experience. And you ended with “a lot of words…That is all.” Which left me thinking, suddenly he’s not talking about Obama anymore, but he’s talking about himself!
I’d stick to the attack on Obama’s Iraq plan. It concerns even many of us Democrats.
Thanks for letting me have my say on your site.
16. Michael | March 9th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Most of the lefty comments again attack president Bush and what has happened in the past, even through their distorted lenses, but do not address the fact the Obama is clueless when it comes to what he will REALLY do if he wins the presidency. (which just happens to be the topic) He also dwells in the past making much of his vote against the war in Iraq even though he lost that vote. Meantime he blames Hillary for voting for the war. All he talks is “woulda, coulda, and shoulda…”
17. Canadian Observer | March 9th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Good grief, people, isn’t there at least one American left who has the capability of leadership? Anyone at all in the whole U.S. of A. who can bring some semblance of unity, some hope, some positivity back into the political arena?
For a country who claims to be a world leader in just about everything, y’all are near the bottom of the class when it comes to the democratic election process.
18. FmrMarine | March 9th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
JD
>>>>>No, I mean specifically the Cheney/Bush debacle/disaster/quagmire in Iraq. They were responsible for lying US into the mess we now find ourselves.<<<<<
REALLY ?
So then all of these people were LYING?
Im not surprised!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNgaVtVaiJE
19. FmrMarine | March 9th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
CO
For someone who lives in a country who has penis envy of it’s southern neighbor,and a 3 man army who the HE!! are you to criticize the USA?
Stay with your marxist utopia, and your gay treadeau party.
Leadership?
doesn’t part of your country speak a foreign language, and want to separate.
Is that the kind of leadership you wish upon us?
KEEP IT !
20. Rich | March 9th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
http://icasualties.org/oif/
Nine days into the month and we only have one American soldier dead from combat and one from an accident. Meanwhile five high school students were shot dead in various incidents in Chicago just this week. Do you libs really think things are going so badly for us still? Is it more dangerous to be a Chicago student than a marine in Iraq now? If so, surely you must give the surge some credit? These are the facts.
21. sun god Ra | March 9th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Explain how Iraq is worth the fanatical ideology expressed here by paraniod, uneducated and xeonophobic cretins. Those to whom delusion is reality and reality a source of scorn. All this talk about Obama’s lack of a “real “plan is a joke. Explain the plan of gwb. Ra dares you.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080309/D8VA528G1.html
22. bagni | March 9th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
markrovian;
thanks for the tip on rove and obama
the spock posse has probably been too obsessed
with the mc’churian candidate theory we’ve been investigating
we hadn’t heard about the rovebama link yet…
we’ll do some orbital observation around it
ack ack
23. JD | March 9th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
FmrMarine,
Absolutely they were lying. They are democrats. I don’t trust ‘em as far as I can spit.
24. FmrMarine | March 9th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
ra
This was the cost of klintoon doing nothing!
http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/aug02/homeland.asp
25. Joe | March 9th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Deleted - off topic; the topic is Obama’s lack of an Iraq plan, not the Democrats’ ability to trot out a soldier who will condemn McCain. This thread is about Obama, Obama, Obama and his lack of plan. Stick to the subject at hand.
26. sun god Ra | March 9th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Former or dumb Marine. You choose.
Why stop at Clinton? How about Bush Sr and his Secretary of Defense Cheney not marching into Baghdad in 1991? Or Reagan with his Iran Contra problems? Or Rumsfled making deals with Sadam? Or Eisenhower? Or the English who created Iraq and then lost the equivilent of 800,000 men before they gave up?
Your problem; and that of others, is that you will not, under any circumstances give credit to the faliure of the gwb administration where it is surely due and that is at the doorstep of the encepheletic idiot who has hijacked our country and our constitution. And he has done this diservice all in the name of equating paranoia with patriotisim, fear with national security and propogating a myth in order to secure a natural resource that enriches his supporters.
What plan did gwb have in mind to encact after we invaded? Obama might not be alot of things, but he has ignited a movement and his eloquence makes up for alot. gwb can’t put 2 words together in a coeherent sentence and when he does speak, he contradicts himself. As a Marine, you should be outraged that your leader has led your country in the same way as another George (Armstrong Custer) led his men to their demise at Little Bighorn.
27. Canadian Observer | March 9th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
CO
For someone who lives in a country who has penis envy of it’s southern neighbor,and a 3 man army who the HE!! are you to criticize the USA?
19. FmrMarine | March 9th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Take a look at the number of Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan, FmrMarine, and count how many have been lost; not only in fighting the Taliban terrorists, but also taken out by our American ally in so called ‘friendly fire’ incidents. Bet you count more than 3.
28. plainjane | March 9th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) March 9th 2008 Thousands of people in the southern city of Basra marched on police headquarters Saturday demanding better security for their crime-ridden city. Kidnappings, murders and thefts have risen in Iraq’s second largest city since British troops handed over responsibility for the province to Iraqi authorities.
Average Republicans re-read the first sentence again and again and again until it makes sense to you. Hannity and Limbaugh loving Necons forget it this will never make sense, for you are into nation building.
The Obama and Clinton plans are similar in that they are much the same as this British plan in Basara. Get the hell out of the way and the people of Iraq will rise to take care of the Al Queda and other thugs that followed us to Iraq in hopes of shooting Americans in a barrel. McCain’s 100-year war plan of simply passing our intrusion in the Iraqi civil war is no plan.
29. Kahn | March 9th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
pla9injane - no, YOU read it again and think about it.
“since British troops handed over responsibility for the province to Iraqi authorities.”
But don’t worry. Obama will pull out immediately. or if you don’t like that - don’t worry he’s lying. Whichever you want.
You already voted in Congress to get us out. How’d that work out for you?
30. SEW | March 9th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Kahn, Jane just wants you to read only the 1st sentence and assume things are going badly. Typical of progressive fact finders. So Jane, read the 2nd sentence, over and over again–and there is the result of the Dem plan to pull our troops out.
Progressives have selective reading ability, just ignore the facts, and read the headlines only of the NYT.
31. Mark Noonan | March 9th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
plain,
But Obama doesn’t have a plan - he says he’ll pull out, his advisors say he might not…he’s just jumping ’round saying what he thinks you want to hear…and, it works like a charm because you refuse to think.
32. plainjane | March 9th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
30. SEW | March 9th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I feel so sad for you. To me the first sentence in #28 brings me a sense of joy. The Iraqi people themselves are taking responsibility for governing their own nation. If you think the first sentence represents doom and gloom then I believe you are a true Hannity/Kristol type neocon. I have no use in debating you, because your heart is blinded with a feeling you are superior and know what is best for all.
It is moments like this that separate the 29% from the others within the Republican Party. Average Republicans would read the first sentence and agree a sense of forced personal responsibility is taking hold, because the British are no longer there to separate them.
33. plainjane | March 9th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
.his advisors say…31. Mark Noonan | March 9th, 2008 at 8:45
Mark, have you done your homework and been to Senator Obama’s web site www.barackobama.com to get Senator Obama’s complete book on policy positions? Since you operate a political blog, I would think you would. If you take issue with positions brought up in the text by all means bring them up for debate.
34. Mark Noonan | March 9th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
plain,
Back to “just read Obama’s plan”, huh? Look, we’ve been over it - there’s nothing of any substance at Obama’s website…just a lot of mindless fluff designed to influence the ignorant (ie, liberals).
35. Rich | March 9th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
“March 9th 2008 Thousands of people in the southern city of Basra marched on police headquarters Saturday demanding better security for their crime-ridden city. Kidnappings, murders and thefts have risen in Iraq’s second largest city since British troops handed over responsibility for the province to Iraqi authorities.”
Nice reading comprehension. Please focus on the part that says violence has risen AFTER British troops pulled out. Now imagine what would happen with a full scale cut and run. Why the hell do we need to read Obama’s plans when he has already stated he will not follow them as President? Uggh.
36. hermie | March 9th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Since his advisors are supposedly the closest to Obama, they should be very knowledgable aboiut his positions, since they helped formulate them.
The fact that they are are contradicting Obama’s positions and promises, demonstrates that he is like any other Chicago Dem politician: Promises everything on-camera, but makes backdoor deals and sells out his supporters at a moments’ notice.
37. Aaron | March 9th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
As Barack said, we’ve got to be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in.
Once you’ve driven the bus into the ditch, there are only so many ways of getting it out.
btw, what’s McCain’s plan? 100 years of occupation, at $12 billion/month (a sizable chunk going to KBR, which doesn’t pay taxes)?
Or, for that matter, what’s Bush’s plan for Iraq? Oh yeah, he never planned at all.
38. Freedom1 | March 9th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Obama is a liar. He has a pattern of lying - on NAFTA, on Iraq, and on his childhoold:
“The not-so-simple story of Barack Obama’s youth” - The Chicago Tribune:
39. Joe | March 9th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Mark, that is absolutely BULL. You allow FmrMarine to post whatever the hell he wants regardless of the topic, yet you delete my topic that was a marine talking about Iraq plans in general.
Your comment policy is getting more and more bizarre.
Back on topic…… you people just keep touting on and on about Obama’s lack of plans on anything under the sun. We say to educate yourself and read the pdf that he puts on his website. Then all you do is complain that we point you to the website for a plan.
You know what…. we have had 7 yrs of bumperstickers from the current administration. Every plan they have can be summed up in a convenient 4 word bumpersticker. Obama comes up with DETAILED plans that can not be explained in a paragraph on a blog and you say he has nothing.
On another thread, someone asked me about the plan. I listed out about 8 bullet points that I summarized from Obama’s website and it was brushed off because they didn’t like the plan.
Here is some news…. just because you don’t LIKE the plan doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It doesn’t matter what we say the plan is, you will just scoff at it.
This blog is getting more and more weird daily.
40. Freedom1 | March 9th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Matt and Mark,
For your Barack Hussein Obama file:
1) Dean Barnett describes Barack Obama’s ever-evolving positions since 2004. The “Evolving” Barack Obama - The Weekly Standard Blog
2) Clearing house of all news related to the ever-evolving Barack Obama-Tony Rezko scandal. Rezkorama - Hugh Hewitt
3) Obama And FARC - Investor’s Business Daily
41. Joe | March 10th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Excuse me… after coming here this morning, I see I mis-spoke. It was FREEDOM1 that is allowed to post the most assinine things on any thread and NOT get deleted for being “off topic”.
42. Sunny | March 10th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Freedom1 apparently the “Obama is a Muslim; Obama is a drug addict; Obama is connected with the Chicago Mob” talk didn’t work, so now its Obama is connected with FARC??? Your desperation is pitiful.
43. Joe | March 10th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Sunny, this is the same person that continually links to radical websites claiming that Islam ultimate evil in the entire world. That all Muslims are evil.
So yes……. he will just keep lobbing things over the wall and hope he gets even one person to believe his crap. Desperation? Gee…. is it that obvious!
44. plainjane | March 10th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
35. Rich | March 9th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
We are not the policemen of the world!!!!!!!!!! If you want that to be the mission of our military; go after kidnappers and speeders then say so and provide money in the form of taxes to pay for it and proper police training, like every communty in the U.S.
45. Freedom1 | March 11th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
For the record, Islam is evil. I hate Islam. I LOVE ALL Muslims. Hate the sin (Islam), love the sinner (ALL Muslims).