Barack Obama Links George Bush and John McCain to Failed Foreign Policy
Following an attack by President Bush during his visit to Israel, Barack Obama gave a speech in South Dakota, that will turn heads. Clearly, Barack Obama will not to fail to respond to Republican fear-mongering and name-calling. We highly recommend that you listen to this speech. It is a masterpiece of reasoned but tough response in which he makes it clear that John McCain and George Bush will be held accountable. It further makes clear that “Swift Boating” will be followed by swift replies.
Click this link to go to the video of Barack Obama’s Speech
New York Times, May 16th, 2008
WATERTOWN, S.D. — Senator Barack Obama responded sharply Friday to a recent spate of attacks on his foreign policy, linking President Bush and Senator John McCain as partners in “the failed policies” of the past seven years and criticizing them for “hypocrisy, fear-peddling, fear-mongering.”
Confronting a major challenge to his foreign policy and world view, Mr. Obama attempted to turn the tables on his Republican critics, saying that they were guilty of “bluster” and “dishonest, divisive” tactics. He also cited a litany of what he called foreign policy blunders by the Bush administration and accused Mr. McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, of “doubling down” on them.
Mr. Obama’s remarks came a day after Mr. Bush, addressing the Israeli parliament, had spoken of what he called a tendency toward “appeasement” in some quarters of the West, similar to that shown to the Nazis by some before the invasion of Poland. Mr. Bush also said he rejected negotiations with “terrorists and radicals,” implying that Democrats favored such a position. Mr. Obama said he found the remarks “offensive.”
“George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for,” Mr. Obama said at a mid-day town hall meeting here, listing the war in Iraq, the strengthening of Iran and militant groups like Hamas and Hizbollah, the inability to capture Osama bin Laden and stalled diplomacy in other parts of the Middle East as among their chief failings. He added: “If George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America, that is a debate I am happy to have any time, any place.”
Obama’s defiant tone and disdainful characterization of the Bush record appeared to be a signal to critics that he will push back against any attempts to define him or his record as weak on terror or accommodating to foreign foes, a strategy Republicans used successfully against Senator John Kerry in 2004. The episode also signaled that the campaigns are pivoting swiftly toward the general election, with both sides already in full-attack mode.
Consistently throughout his comments about foreign policy, Mr. Obama yoked Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain together as a single entity, mentioning their names in the same sentence 10 times in barely 10 minutes. He also portrayed them as being not only inflexible, but also “naïve and irresponsible” — the very characteristics they ascribe to him.
Click here to read more of this important story in the New York Times.
Chris Cillizza contributes an article from the Washington Post on this same subject.