Obama: By The Way, I Have No Intention Of Pulling All The Troops Out Of Iraq…I Was Just Pandering To You Morons
“I said that I would remove our combat troops from Iraq in 16 months, with the understanding that it might be necessary — likely to be necessary — to maintain a residual force to provide potential training, logistical support, to protect our civilians in Iraq,” Mr. Obama said this week as he introduced his national security team.
Well some might call that a fib or a lie based on this speech
Gateway Pundit says “Of course, this decision on Iraq is the right thing to do, but it does make you wonder if anything he said during the campaign had any truth to it?”
Well that is an interesting question. Campbell Brown seems to be asking the same thing on another subject:
CAMPBELL BROWN: First tonight, though, as always, we are ‘Cutting Through the Bull.’ No one here needs to be reminded of how heated things got between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the campaign. She trashed him, saying he wasn’t ready to be commander-in-chief. He trashed her, mocking her foreign policy experience as first lady. Well, now, of course, they have put all of that behind them, so that she can become his Secretary of State. Naturally, given all that was said, this issue came up during an exchange with reporters today. This is worth listening to.
PETER BAKER, NEW YORK TIMES: You talked about the importance, just now, of having different voices and robust debate within your administration. But, again, going back to the campaign, you were asked and talked about the qualifications of the — your now, your nominee for Secretary of State, and you belittled her travels around the world, equating it to having teas with foreign leaders. And your new White House counsel said that her resume was grossly exaggerated when it came to foreign policy. I’m wondering whether you can talk about the evolution of your views of her credentials since the spring.
PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA: I mean, I think — this is fun for the press to try to stir up whatever quotes were generated during the course of the campaign. No, I understand, and you’re having fun.
BROWN: There we go again. The pesky media — all we want to do is have a little fun, stir things up for our own amusement. I mean, really, how silly of that reporter to dare ask you, Mr. President-Elect, how it is that you completely mocked Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy experience just a few months ago, and yet today, you think there is no one more qualified than she to lead your foreign policy team? It’s a clever device, treating a question so dismissively in an attempt to delegitimize it, but it is a legitimate question. As annoying how you may have found it, it is a fair question. It was only in March of this year that Greg Craig, your new White House counsel, put out a memo over four pages long, outlining point by point Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy claims, calling them all exaggerated, just words, not supported by her record.
Now, look, maybe you regret what you said about Hillary Clinton. Maybe it was, as you suggested today, all just said in the heat of the campaign. If that is the case, and you are both now rising above it, then you deserve to be commended for that. And you could have been explicit in saying all of that today. You could have explained the evolution of your thinking, instead of belittling a question you didn’t like.
Mr. President-Elect, reporters, we hope, are going to ask you a lot of annoying questions over the next four years. Get used to it. That is the job of the media, to hold you accountable. But this isn’t just about the media. It’s about the American people, many of whom voted for you because of what you said during the campaign, and they have a right to know which of those things you meant and which you didn’t. Apparently, as you made clear today, you didn’t mean what you said about Hillary Clinton. So, what else didn’t you mean? The media is going to be asking, and you were wrong today. Annoying questions are about more than just the press having fun. Annoying questions are about the press doing its job and the people’s right to know.
December 4, 2008 - 12:54 PM on December 4th, 2008
I suppose, of course, it depends entirely on how the guy defines “residual.”
He may mean residual as in truly residual, or he may simply be using the word “residual” as in, “Ha ha, you fools! I lied to you but now I’m president and there’s nothing you can do!”
December 4, 2008 - 01:58 PM on December 4th, 2008
[...] on this at HotAir and Right Voices. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Tonight On The Randi Rhodes Show(10.23.08)Foreign [...]
December 4, 2008 - 05:09 PM on December 4th, 2008
First of all, every candidate says things during the campaign that if elected they cannot produce. McCain would have been in the same position. Campaign rhetoric from either side has to be taken with a grain of salt. It has always been that way, it will always be that way. That said, Obama on many issues is showing great flexibility on his part, a trait he seems to have that sadly our former president either lacked or only possessed in small quantities. Some times things change, some times you discover conditions you did not know about before hand. I would much rather have a president willing to learn, grow, and make the needed changes rather than like the past admin that took years to correct the errors in its Iraq policies. On many fronts Obama is showing great promise. His selections of people for his administration show a desire to govern from the center where he can reach the majority of the American people. I would suggest people give him time, at least UNTIL he IS IN OFFICE before condemning him. We need to pull together. It is sink or swim time, boys and girls.
December 4, 2008 - 06:32 PM on December 4th, 2008
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December 4, 2008 - 07:03 PM on December 4th, 2008
No Roger, McCain would not have been in the same position because he understands the GWOT, the military, and the dangers of speaking out of turn! The only thing that has changed in Iraq is the conditions getting better. We needed to pull together back in 2001, that didn’t happen because the left put politics above the people..Obama will get the same treatment Bush did..
December 4, 2008 - 07:35 PM on December 4th, 2008
[...] Obama: By The Way, I Have No Intention Of Pulling All The Troops … No one here needs to be reminded of how heated things got between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the campaign. She trashed him, saying he wasn’t ready to be commander-in-chief. He trashed her, mocking her foreign policy … [...]
December 7, 2008 - 05:54 PM on December 7th, 2008
[...] The fact of the matter: [...]