Obama’s Iraq Pledge Revealed as Double Talk

Obama’s Iraq Pledge Revealed as Double Talk (bumped from earlier a.m.)

Samantha Power, until she resigned today, was a senior foreign policy adviser for Barack Obama. She recently said in
an interview that Obama’s Iraq war plan is not a sure thing. Via
Mark Halperin, who has the video portion, we get the full effect of what
an Obama presidency would be and it’s not what he’s campaigning on.

In fact, as I’ve said for months and months, even getting booed at last year’s
YearlyKos for saying so, no candidate knows what we’ll have waiting for us in
January 2009. I’ve said over and over again that our candidates need to have
more leeway in dealing with Iraq once we hopefully win back the White House.
So Power’s words don’t shock me. In fact, she’s correct. Unfortunately for Obama,
it’s diametrically opposed to what
he’s been saying during the primary season. In essence, what Obama is doing
is pledging one thing, while knowing he’ll never be able to deliver on it. This
is just another reason the trust factor for me and Senator Obama is non-existent.
He won Wisconsin on his anti war bona fides, which, as I’ve been saying for
over a year, are not one inch different from Clinton’s, just like their Iraq
war votes since he hit the Senate. Power gives voice to this reality in the
interview, which Ben
Smith offers:

The host, Stephen Sackur, challenged her:”So what the American public thinks is a commitment to get combat forces out in 16 months isn’t a commitment isn’t it?” “You can’t make a commitment in March 2008 about what circumstances will be like in January of 2009,” she said. “He will, of course, not rely on some plan that he’s crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. 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 – it would be the height of ideology to sort of say, ‘Well, I said it, therefore I’m going to impose it on whatever reality greets me.’” “It’s a best-case scenario,” she said again.

Clinton has said time and again she will confer with her military advisers,
once in office, then begin the withdrawal, which is her intended goal. She gets
pilloried for not promising a rapid redeployment. However, she’s correct.

There is simply no way anyone can promise instant withdrawal, even though that’s
what we all want. The Bush-Cheney crew have screwed up every angle of the Iraq war. Democrats
cannot promise what cannot be delivered, which is what I’ve been saying in response
to all of the candidates who promise immediate gifts of troop withdrawal. It
sounds good, but it’s a lie.

Senator Clinton wants out of Iraq. We all do. But she’s being the most forthright
in how it will be achieved. Slowly and carefully. Just look who is at her side,
all the military flag officers. Former Admiral Joe Sestak said long ago the
best we can do is two brigades a month, but that it would take years. I agree
and have said so.

Obama and Clinton’s position on Iraq are identical, but he’s been running a rhetorical con positioning himself as the anti Iraq war candidate, when he won’t be able to deliver on what he’s promising. Obama’s pledge of being the anti war candidate has always been a mirage. Power
is correct in what she’s stating. The problem is that Obama’s been deceiving his supporters and many other Democrats who don’t
understand the realities of war, military deployment, and what happens when
you invade a country that now is in shambles.

Clinton has been telling voters the truth for over a year, but because she wouldn’t promise what couldn’t be delivered she’s been pilloried. Now that Obama’s Iraq war reality, which is quite different from what he postures, has been revealed through an adviser that knew him well, what else has Barack Obama got?

“He will, of course, not rely on some plan that he’s crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator.” – Samantha Power

In the last week, his foreign policy advisers have revealed themselves and their candidate to be strictly amateur. John McCain will eat them for lunch.