I think that his appointment of Rahm Emmanual and now his silence on this current situation with Isreal bombing Gaza says everything we need to know about how he feels and how he will handle these types of issues. I'm also of the opinion that he is a lot less of a peace nik then his left leaning original friends had thought him to be, again we can see this with his current stand on Gaza/Isreal and also with keeping the current leadership of the Department of Defense in tact from the Bush Admin.
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Obama absent during mid east crisis
- Thread starter John_Wensink
- Start date
I think maybe it should be Law that the leading candidate from the opposite party of a lame duck president an entire calendar year before the election should be the guy to handle foreign policy. dontcha think?
Certainly not the elected...er...um...guy.
Certainly not the elected...er...um...guy.
Quote from John_Wensink:
Where is the leadership?
He certainly has a lot to say about other policies of his but is hiding under his bed for one he can't attach a cliche to.
America should have no opinion on middle east matters. We have enough fucking problems at home than to be the Roman Empire of the world.
Could you be more specific as to what impresses you about Mr. Obama?
Quote from a_person:
I am not Obama's fan, he was the only democrat I was not willing to vote for and I did not (I did not vote for McCain either)
Having said that so far I am quite impressed with the guy and yes, that does include his silence on the situation in the Middle East. They are diplomats, they have their own language. When Obama does not come out and demand (or even suggest) an immediate ceasefire (unlike Brown, Solana, UN assholes and other clowns) the people who matter get his silent message loud and clear.
PS Thanks Landis
Quote from Brandonf:
I'm also of the opinion that he is a lot less of a peace nik then his left leaning original friends had thought him to be, again we can see this with his current stand on Gaza/Isreal and also with keeping the current leadership of the Department of Defense in tact from the Bush Admin.
Make no mistake about it, Robert Gates has passed the "mustard" test.
He is most familiar with Iraq and the toll it has taken on our military "readiness" and resources, not too mention what it would take to make a much larger committment in Afghanistan.
He is also very well versed in several large military platforms that are coming up . . . such as the $35 billion dollar KC-135 tanker contract ( average age of our current refueling fleet is 45 years!), the F22 Raptor / F35 Lightning and the Future Combat Weapon System (FCWS), just to name a few.
Meanwhile, General Jim Jones was appointed to head up the NSA. He was a 4-star general and served as the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe. In 2007, he also was chairman of the Congressional Independent Commission on the Security Forces in Iraq, which investigated the capabilities of the Iraqi police and armed forces.
And finally, former Army Chief of Staff, General Eric Shinseki heads up one of the largest bureaucracies in Washington, DC., the VA.
As you might recall, Shinseki was the ONLY military official during the Bush Administration that publicly came out for a cry of more troops in Iraq, back in 2003. He was then "demoted" after his public comment.
In my opinion, the above 3 appointments by President elect Obama are most impressive and will go a long way to helping the USA meet the military challenges of the 21st century.
Personally I always shared his economic views, if anything I thought his healthcare plan does not go far enough. It was all the other stuff that I was worried about. Mostly I was extremely concerned with his foreign policy views and that he would turn out to be a leftist, defeatist, America hating peacenik of Z-troll/Nader variety. So far it does not look like it's the case.Quote from John_Wensink:
Could you be more specific as to what impresses you about Mr. Obama?
I am very impressed with his key cabinet choices especially Tom Daschle, Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, <b>Robert Gates</b>, Jones, Shinseki. And I am definitely very impressed with his handling of the middle east situation. Realistically he can't come out and say "bomb baby bomb" but his silence is the next best thing which basically conveys exactly the same message.
Quote from traderNik:
Republican whining over the loss of this election is really pathetic. Man up.
I can't wait until he becomes president.
Once he does I think we might actually be able to have a debate about him instead of the "excuse chorus" chiming in about him not being president yet and thus excluding every single legit argument about him.