For me it's coming down to what we are preserving- or attempting to preserve- I think the bad far outweighs the good here- and I believe that if Obama sidesteps this it will be his downfall.
President Obama will forever be linked to the Bush Torture Coverup and our great victory over the establishment will be torn down.
"It's a trap are you blind?" (Hamish) ~Braveheart
Like many Americans, I just watched the first presidential debates, and like many Americans I hope, I was heartened to see Obama speaking clearly and forcefully on foreign policy issues. But I have listened to him now for over a year and a half, and I think he can do better. The central foreign policy concern of any American is a single issue: safety. Obama has the upper hand on this problem. He addressed it several times by talking about how we took our eye off the ball of Afghanistan when we went to war in Iraq. But Obama had a critical opportunity when asked the question, "Do you think we are safer than we were 8 years ago?" He responded, "In some ways, yes" and then went on to talk about ways we were safer, only later getting to the ways in which we need to do more. This is an area in which less is more. Reminding people about the terrorists at large in a way that brings us back to the terror of 9/11 is of supreme importance. With great respect to Senator Obama and his ability to see all sides of a complex problem, here is what I would have wanted to hear as an answer to that question, with all the indignation and anger that rightfully attends it:
"Osama bin Laden is still out there! Al Quaeda is still out there! Now stronger than ever having had 7 years to regroup and regain it's footing in the caves between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Resurgent in over 60 countries. What do you think their reaction was when, in reaction to 9/11, we went into Iraq? Do you think they were intimidated? They were re-energized in their hatred of us! And now they've had 7 YEARS to replenish themselves!
Imagine, just imagine, what things might be like today if we'd gone immediately to work finding and killing the masterminds behind 9/11. Imagine if we'd sent our troops, with detailed intelligence about Al Quaeda's whereabouts, straight into Pakistan and Afghanistan, to hunt these terrorists down. If we'd concentrated our intelligence on localizing the most important havens for their leaders and then taking them out. We could be standing here today, not wondering where bin Laden is hiding, not wondering IF we are safer, but KNOWING that we are safer because the leaders of this terrorist group would have been killed or captured.
Instead, the Bush administration set it's sights on Iraq. They fed us lies about WMDs and used fear tactics to get us embroiled in a war that prevented us from going after the terrorists who created a day of terror that none of us will ever forget. John McCain supported this war, and I opposed it, knowing that it was taking us away from the real fight on terror.
You've heard time and time again Senator McCain talking about the surge in Iraq and how successful it has been. But think about it. If Senator McCain had been right about going into Iraq in the first place, would he be so focused on the surge? Think about it! If Senator McCain had had the foresight and judgement to see that we would be diverting our precious military resources to a country that had not attacked us and away from the terrorists that had, would he be talking over and over about the surge in Iraq? His decision to support the Iraq war has not only NOT made our country safer, it has left us in more danger than ever before. So when you hear John McCain bring up the surge over and over and over, remember that he is talking about Iraq not Afghanistan and Sadam Hussein not Al Quaeda and the terrorists who committed 9/11. He talks about the surge because he KNOWS that he was wrong to go into Iraq. Real leadership would have been in going after the real terrorists from day 1 not 7 years later. That's what would have made our country safer, and that is what I will do as president."
More evidence of detachment with reality- and documentation of that as a legacy for this presidency:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/congress_iraq_funding
P*E*A*C*E*
When a bigot like Steve King comes out and offers us his verbal diarrhea, its up to us to spend our time repudiating, denouncing, and/or rejecting his comments as offensive, or making him eat his own words by pointing out that his entire argument is INCORRECT.
Radical Islamics want to hit america, and what they want is to strip Americans of being "The land of the free, and the home of the brave!" Electing a president whose middle name is Hussein does nothing to make them dance. If this man, whose middle name is Hussein, would make the best president, a president some of us could only dream of, a president who would ring a death bell for Al-Quaeda for the superior judgment and unifying force he brings, IF we want to vote for him with every ounce of our judgment and choose NOT to because of what Al Quaeda will think, now that would make them declare victory over America's freedom, that would made them dance in the streets, and that would make them defeat us. Dont let it happen.
http://bandy.squarespace.com/politickle/2008/3/9/dancing-in-the-streets.html
