BY TAYLOR MARSH
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Making the case that he would be a better commander in chief for the troops
than John McCain is likely one of the toughest arguments Obama has to make.
But there is a case for it if Obama talks straight. He’s begun the dialogue,
though it will take more than one interview to do it.
The reality is that
John McCain will have a natural affinity with the soldiers that no one can deny. But he voted against Webb’s GI Bill just recently, which makes no sense
and sends a terrible message, which goes directly at the way McCain thinks about soldiers and sacrifice. It is a Republican message that belies the “support the troops” myth about the GOP, which is they talk a lot about “supporting the troops”
but rarely put those talks into action, especially when it comes to policy, though Republicans love to use the U.S. miltitary for photo ops whenever they can, especially around election time. The other reality is that no president in U.S. history has broken faith with the U.S. military at such a deep level than George W. Bush, to whom McCain is inextricably tied. Bush has gutted the trust of the U.S. military, while causing recruitment to change in a way that has lowered the calibre of enlistees that has the potential of severely changing the foundation of the finest military force in the world. This is the Republican answer, which John McCain represents.
The interview in the Military
Times with Obama also comes with a
short video portion.
“I do not presume that from the day I am sworn in, every single service
man or woman suddenly says, ‘This guy knows what he is doing,’”
said Obama, a freshman U.S. senator from Illinois, in his most extensive interview
to date on a wide range of military issues.Earning trust, he said, means listening to advice from military people, including
top uniformed leaders, combatant commanders and senior noncommissioned officers
and petty officers. It also means standing up for the military on critical
issues and keeping promises, Obama said….…Obama said he would not order any “precipitous” withdrawal
of combat forces. Instead, he said, his policy is that “we should be
as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless in getting in.”“I have always said that as commander in chief, I would seek the advice
and counsel of our generals,” Obama said. But, in the end, “it
is the job of commander in chief to set the strategy.”…
On gays in the military: “If we can’t field enough Arab linguists,
we shouldn’t be preventing an Arab linguist from serving his or her country
because of what they do in private.”
“I want to make sure that we are doing it in a thoughtful and principled
way. But I do believe that at a time when we are short-handed, that everybody
who is willing to lay down their lives on behalf of the United States and
can do so effectively, can perform critical functions, should have the opportunity
to do so.”
Also addressed in the interview is the challenge he’ll likely get from the
Pentagon on this policy change.
Obama is also for an increase in our force structure, though the Air Force
and Navy will stay as is: Obama’s plans for a 65,000-person increase
in the Army and a 27,000-person increase in the Marine Corps match plans already
underway.
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