Obama says put up or shut up
I haven't really started paying much attention to the 2008 prez race--much too soon, they're going to burn themselves out, and us too--but I must say I was impressed with how Sen. Barack Obama handled the harsh comments from Australian Prime Minister John Howard regarding Obama's position on Iraq.
Obama--who gave a speech opposing the war in 2002--has introduced a bill to prevent President Bush from increasing troop levels in Iraq and to remove US combat forces by March 2008.
Then last Sunday, Bush's conservative Oz buddy played the terrorists-love-Democrats card on a news program, singling out Obama in particular. Howard said:
"If I were running al Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats."
Well, Obama called his bluff ..
"Senator Obama said he was flattered by the attack by "one of George Bush's allies on the other side of the world", and belittled Mr Howard's commitment to the war.
"Senator Obama said he was flattered by the attack by "one of George Bush's allies on the other side of the world", and belittled Mr Howard's commitment to the war.
"I would also note that we have close to 140,000 troops in Iraq and my understanding is Mr Howard has deployed 1400," he said.
"So if he is to fight the good fight in Iraq I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq - otherwise it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric."[..]"
Yeah PM Howard .. walk the talk. If the war's so dang important, why hasn't Australia sent more than a token commitment of troops? Maybe he thinks this bullshit posturing gains him extra cred in Australia.
But really, Howard's sin was not his opposition to a US withdrawal--he has the right to think it would be seen as a victory for terrorism--it was poking his nose into domestic US politics with such inflammatory language, which he has no business doing.
From what I've heard about Obama, he doesn't hide from things like this and is a pretty straight talker .. I hope he isn't penalized for having a pair.
And Obama can talk circles around what we have now in the White House .. it would be so nice for a change to have a leader who is not intellectually challenged .. a leader who knows history and geography .. a leader who can parse a sentence in American English all by himself.
Obama is a very worthy candidate, but I don't really think he has a chance of winning the Democratic nomination -- he's either too black or too white from what I hear on the news. He has a better chance to start out taking Vice Prez, then go for Prez .. he'd be more seasoned too. And people would be used to him.
Anyway, I respect him even more for the way he responded to Howard's chickenshit statement.
From what I've read, Obama calls for a phased withdrawl and redeployment consistent with the Iraq Study Group plan. No Democrat has called for a mad-dash retreat.
We just need to get our troops out of the civil wars crossfire .. and it won't be instantaneous. If you're going to withdraw from a war, you can either phase your troops out gradually .. or gather on an embassy roof hoping for space on a helicopter.
It would be interesting if Howard answered Obama by sending more Aussie troops .. but Howard's already in trouble for lying to the Aussies on the pre-war intel .. and 70% of his country oppose the war. So, he's not sending any troops.
But .. if by some miracle Howard was shamed into sending 20,000 Aussie troops and it allowed some of our troops to avoid a 4th tour of duty, I'd appreciate that.
