Hillary or Obama indeed

[Alfred E. Newman]

Read this and enjoy !!

At War with History


Ohio debate aftermath


"Now, I have to say, when it came to making the most important
foreign
policy decision of our generation, the decision to invade Iraq, Sen.
Clinton got it wrong," Barack Obama said Sunday in response to a
Clinton campaign ad that suggests ...
He Started It


Hillary Rodham Clinton recently jumped on Barack Obama for what her
aides called "a pretty big flip-flop" as Obama began to backpedal
from
a pledge to participate in the federal public campaign financing
program in the general election. ...


"Well, can I just point out that, in the last several debates, I seem
to get the first question all the time. And I don't mind," was
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's
response to a question about her position on NAFTA during Tuesday
night's MSNBC debate in Ohio.


That answer demonstrates why Clinton is trailing in the polls. She
can't give a straight answer -- for her life. If Clinton didn't mind
getting the first question, then why did she bring it up? Clinton
continued, "You know, I'll be happy to field them, but I do find it
curious, and if anybody saw 'Saturday Night Live,' you know, maybe we
should ask Barack (Obama) if he's comfortable and needs another
pillow. I just find it kind of curious that I keep getting the first
question on all these issues. But I'm happy to answer it."


Funny. Clinton didn't seem happy. In those few lines, Clinton instead
came across as the passive-aggressive candidate. And she complained
about the opportunity to answer first and set the tone of debates.


Later, when MSNBC's Brian Williams asked Clinton about a stump speech
in which she took on Barack Obama as a grand-talking candidate,
Clinton demurred. "Well, I was having a little fun," Clinton
responded. "You know, it's hard to find time to have fun on the
campaign trail, but occasionally you can sneak that in."


Just having fun? Come on. If you want voters to think Obama is all-
talk, no-delivery, you have to be willing to say as much yourself. Be
a man. Or the female equivalent.


Williams also asked Clinton if she thought Obama was "qualified to be
commander in chief," and Clinton would not say Obama was not
qualified. She would only say that she was qualified.


Four years ago, Democrats argued that a presidential candidate should
have military experience.
They argued that Vietnam combat veteran John Kerry would make a
better
commander in chief because Bush only served in the Air National
Guard.
Now the Democrats are about to nominate a candidate with absolutely
no
military experience -- and it doesn't matter.


One thing the debate did not do was clarify what either Democrat will
do about Iraq. Both say that they immediately would begin withdrawing
troops from Iraq, but you have to listen carefully to understand that
neither is talking about a complete withdrawal, which many Democrats
want.


Obama's plan for "immediate" withdrawal of U.S. troops calls for
keeping a "residual force" in Iraq to protect diplomatic and military
personnel in Iraq and "continue striking at al-Qaida in Iraq." How
many troops does that mean? He doesn't say.


Clinton has said, "If this president does not get us out of Iraq,
when
I am president, I will." But like Obama, she would leave troops in
Iraq.


MSNBC's Tim Russert asked Obama and Clinton what they would do if the
Iraq government, angry at the limited troop withdrawal, told
Washington to pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Russert should have
asked what the Dems would do if insurgents decimated residual forces
that had trouble defending themselves because they lacked the numbers
to fight back. And isn't limited engagement the Rumsfeld strategy
that
Democrats attacked before the 2006 election?


Answers to those questions might get the attention of those who think
that a vote for Obama -- who opposed the war when Clinton voted for
it
in 2002 -- is a vote to end the war. When it isn't. In that, Barack
Obama has something in common with Hillary Clinton.