Obama doesn't have a Plan for Iraq

Oh wait. He does. And Obama presented it in the pages of the New York Times, underlining the key differences between himself and Mr. McCain.

As I’ve said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 — two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, a residual force in Iraq would perform limited missions: going after any remnants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, protecting American service members and, so long as the Iraqis make political progress, training Iraqi security forces. That would not be a precipitous withdrawal.

In carrying out this strategy, we would inevitably need to make tactical adjustments. As I have often said, I would consult with commanders on the ground and the Iraqi government to ensure that our troops were redeployed safely, and our interests protected. We would move them from secure areas first and volatile areas later. We would pursue a diplomatic offensive with every nation in the region on behalf of Iraq’s stability, and commit $2 billion to a new international effort to support Iraq’s refugees.

Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been.

Good stuff. Still I don't expect the right wing to stop complaining that Obama doesn't have a plan on Iraq.

More points on the Issue of the day

OK Back at it.

Point #2. Obama will not be able to "get past" this issue until he leaves politics entirely. There is nothing that Obama can say or do that will get the Limbaughs and the Hannitys of the world to abandon such a juicy line of attack. Case in point, Rush Limbaugh following yesterdays speech.

I'll tell you what I think is happening here, folks. Be on guard for this. I think Barack Obama is trying to put America on the defensive once again. He's trying to put America on defense. Original sin, it's back full-fledged. No progress has been made. None whatsoever! We have to start working on this! He's the guy to do it now. If anybody needs a lecture on race relations, it's not the people in this country. It is the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. If somebody needs a lecture on this country and on hate and its horrible effects on people, it's not the people of this country

Hmmmm. Now let's look at what Obama said in his speech.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

That doesn't seem to have registered with Rush Limbaugh or his cohort. And it won't register with them, because if they heard that they'd have to move on from Jeremiah Wright and they sure as hell don't want to do that.

Candidate Review - Assassination of Benazir Bhutto - Barack Obama

On Obama's campaign Blog (done by campaign workers, not Obama) there's a reference to a public event in Des Moines, where Obama commented on the assassination.

We mourn her loss...We stand for democracy and...we will be steadfast in our desire to end the kind of terrorist acts that have blighted not just Pakistan but other parts of the world.

He also released a public statement.

I am shocked and saddened by the death of Benazir Bhutto in this terrorist atrocity. She was a respected and resilient advocate for the democratic aspirations of the Pakistani people. We join with them in mourning her loss, and stand with them in their quest for democracy and against the terrorists who threaten the common security of the world.

Pretty much the right tone, although it doesn't address what this death really means.

Candidate Review - The Environment - Barack Obama

One nice thing about this issue is that all of the Democrats seem aware of it. I suspect we will get a different range of responses over in Republican land. Anyway Obama is taking Environmental issues pretty seriously.

The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe.

His plan, as is normal for Obama, is quite detailed. There's a lot to like in it, and it shows that he's really grappled with this issue.

Candidate Review - Illegal Immigration - Barack Obama

Well Obama doesn't make the same mistake Kucinich does - rather, he has a page on what he wants to do on Illegal Immigration. Looks very detailed. I supposed I'd better read it.

I know this sounds dismissive of Obama - I think he's a really good candidate with a lot of good ideas. But I spent the day reading these candidates positions and I'm tired and he's the last one (which is why I try to rotate around so I'm not always ending on the same person).

Anyway Obama seems to have a lot of the right ideas. He wants to strengthen border security while being compassionate to those who are already here. He doesn't want to break up families, but he does want to crack down on businesses that employ illegals. The quote at the top is a good summary.

"In approaching immigration reform, I believe that we must enact tough, practical reforms. . . . We need stronger enforcement on the border and at the workplace. . . . But for reform to work, we also must respond to what pulls people to America. . . . Where we can reunite families, we should. Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should. . . . The time to fix our broken immigration system is now. It is critical that as we embark on this enormous venture to update our immigration system, it is fully reflective of the powerful tradition of immigration in this country and fully reflective of our values and ideals."

This makes a lot of sense. And I think Obama is about as solid on this issue as anybody.

Candidate Review - Electoral Reform - Barack Obama

Obama also has a page on electoral reform and voting rights. So all of the top tier candidates have a page on this, while a number of the secondary candidates don't. I wonder if it is just because this is seen as a secondary issue? The candidates with plenty of money can afford to put one together, but those who's operations are a little more shoe-string have to pick and choose which issues they want to address? Probably.

Anyway here is Obama on making sure everybody has access to the polls.

In recent elections we have seen political operatives purge voters from registration rolls for no legitimate reason, uneven distribution of polling equipment, and efforts to deceive voters about the time, location and rules of elections. A recent study discovered numerous organized efforts to intimidate and mislead voters and suppress voter turnout in minority communities. Few states have enacted clear and effective prohibitions against these abuses. Senator Obama introduced the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act to enable investigations into deceptive practices. It establishes significant harsh penalties for those who have engaged in fraud and it provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote.

That is a good and necessary step, but it doesn't address the concerns about voting fraud that occurs after the vote is cast - i.e. Diebold.

Obama also has a page on fixing government, but it doesn't go to the heart of the matter; campaign financing. I mean looking at the perks a Jack Abramoff might give you like free flights or hookers is important. And of course it makes for "sexy" news stories. But the real problem is that our legislatures have to spend much of their time raising funds to run for their office again.

Still I think he'll probably have one leg up over the Republicans.

Candidate Review - The Iraq War - Barack Obama

Obama is trying to sell himself as the next best thing to Dennis Kucinich. Kucinch would probably like you to know that it's one thing to oppose the war quietly when nobody is paying attention to you and another to oppose it from the House of Representatives - the Belly of the Beast, as it were. Still Barack has a point when he notes that of the top tier candidates he's the one who didn't vote for the Iraq War Resolution.

Barack Obama opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. In 2002, as the conventional thinking in Washington lined up for war, Obama had the judgment and courage to speak out against the war. He said the war would lead to "an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs and undetermined consequences." In January 2007, Obama introduced legislation to responsibly end the war in Iraq, with a phased withdrawal of troops engaged in combat operations.

Obama has a plan to immediately begin withdrawing our troops engaged in combat operations at a pace of one or two brigades every month, to be completed by the end of next year. He would call for a new constitutional convention in Iraq, convened with the United Nations, which would not adjourn until Iraq's leaders reach a new accord on reconciliation. He would use presidential leadership to surge our diplomacy with all of the nations of the region on behalf of a new regional security compact. And he would take immediate steps to confront the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Iraq.

Not bad stuff, all told. And I like the quote he leads off his page with.

I don't oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.

Not a bad statement, presumably designed to comfort people who don't want the Democrat party to be the party of wusses.

Candidate Review - Health Care - Barack Obama

Obama also uses those magic words; the Congressional Health Care plan. I should note that his health care plan is unusually complete even in it's initial presentation - many of the candidates have additional websites you can go to and read their policy; Obama has those too, but also a lot of information just on his page on health care. Some emphatsis on the problem of health care which is a good enough Idea i suppose. And then his plan. It has 6 planks.

1. Obama's Plan to Cover the Uninsured. Obama will create a new national health plan to allow individuals without access to affordable insurance coverage to buy coverage similar to that available to members of Congress. . . .

2. National Health Insurance Exchange. Obama will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals who wish to purchase private insurance. The Exchange will act as a watchdog group and help reform the private insurance market by creating rules and standards for participating insurance plans to ensure fairness and to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible.

3. Employer Contribution. . . .

4. Mandatory Coverage of Children. . . .

5. Expansion of Medicaid and SCHIP. . . .

6. Flexibility for State Plans. Obama's plan allows states to continue innovating on health care reform.

And that doesn't count his plans to modernize our health care system. It's very comprehensive. I do think he does emphasize the choice and of course that its based on the Congressional Health Plan. On the other hand the completeness of this plan probably doesn't help it much. You look at a plan like this, and it becomes evident that Obama does want to change how Healthcare works.

Candidate Review - Fair Trade - Barack Obama

Obama doesn't seem to have a solid position on Free Trade yet; but he did make some revealing comments that were reported at his website.

"We're not going to draw a moat around the United States' economy. If we do that, then China is still trading, India is still going to be trading," said Obama, who voted against the recent Central American Free Trade Agreement and opposes the current pending trade deal with South Korea.

"I think that NAFTA and CAFTA did not reflect the interests of American workers but reflected the interests of the stock owners on Wall Street, because they did not contain the sorts of labor provisions and environmental provisions that should have been embedded and should have been enforceable in those agreements. ... You got the stock market sky-high. Corporate profits going up, but those workers who get laid off as a consequence of displacement, there's some sort of weak retraining program that trains people for jobs that don't exist in communities all across the country."

So he seems more in the reform of NAFTA and other trade program, rather than the elimination of said programs. Which makes sense.

Candidate Review - Foreign Policy - Barack Obama

Obama's page on foreign policy has the interesting name "Strengthening America Overseas." I'm not sure that makes a lot of sense. America, with the exception of Hawaii and Alaska isn't overseas. It's right here. Oh well. Let's see what he has to say about foreign policy and diplomacy.

Obama rejects the notion that the American moment has passed and believes that America must neither retreat from the world nor try to bully it into submission. Obama believes that America must lead the world, by deed and example, and that America cannot meet the threats of the century alone and that the world cannot meet them without America.

The section links to a speech by the candidate, which is a good idea.

This election offers us the chance to turn the page and open a new chapter in American leadership. The disappointment that so many around the world feel toward America right now is only a testament to the high expectations they hold for us. We must meet those expectations again, not because being respected is an end in itself, but because the security of America and the wider world demands it.

This will require a new spirit – not of bluster and bombast, but of quiet confidence and sober intelligence, a spirit of care and renewed competence. It will also require a new leader.

He has five areas he wants to focus on - Ending the Iraq War, Rebuilding the Military, Destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction, Renew International Alliances, and Strengthen Weak Nations. I guess there is something there for everybody; although our adventures in strengthening weak nations haven't been 100% positive.

Candidate Review - Abortion - Barack Obama

Barack Obama has some slick people working on his website. It's got a very clean design. As near as I can tell he doesn't have a presence in Second Life.

The Website does have a blog which looks regularly updated - very regularly. It also has a section on People, which highlights supporters of Obama. Very smart idea. There is an Obama Store where you can get a Windbreaker? Very practical for this time of year.

Obama's position on Abortion is found on his people page for Women. If you go there you can click on Where Barack stands and pull up his position on what his campaign considers Women's issues, including Supporting Research into Woman's health, Fighting Cancer and so on.

And about half way down, one finds this straightforward statement.

Barack Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case.

So there you go. Pretty clear.