Barack Obama pulls the sheeps clothing off the Petraeus report

Obama has begun his pushback against the white house Petraeus spin and delivered some impressive points during his questioning of Petraeus and Crocker. I pointed out in an earlier diary that Obama's silence may be a smart strategic move and this was amid criticisms from Markos of Daily Kos and others in the blogosphere that Obama was lacking in the leadership department.

I have to say I'm shocked at the silence from the Obama campaign. The utter lack of leadership shown thus far on his part is appalling.

- Kos 9/7/2007

The criticisms were not limited to front page posters and non Obama supporters but Obama supporters as well. One very strong Obama supporter who I will not name said the following:

And Obama, as I stated yesterday, got to come out with his position on Iraq, period.  It is coming down to this issue.

Geeksque, who is probably one of the most prominent (excellent writer by the way) Obama supporters on Daily Kos wrote one of the best Obama diaries I have read in a long while entitled take the damn ball. He like other fellow Obama supporters know that the Senator is capable of leading on this issue unlike any of the other top tier candidates because he has a certain credibility on Iraq that they lack, namely his vocal opposition to the invasion back in 2002.

Well those calls to take the ball has been answered today and will conclude with his major policy speech on Iraq tomorrow when he is accompanied by the greatest foreign policy mind in the democratic party, Zbigniew Brezezinski.

Today, however, he took the opportunity to reframe the surge debate during his time questioning Petraeus and Crocker.

The question is one of strategy, not tactics. And the difficulty we have, I think, is that, each time we've talked to you, questions have been posed to you about the broader strategy of our war in Iraq, you've punted a little bit because you've said, look, that's a little outside my bailiwick.

But as Senator Feingold pointed out, we don't have limitless resources. And we've got to make these decisions, at least, in the Senate, based on priorities and the costs, as well as benefits, to pursuing a particular strategy.

I have to say, and this hasn't been commented on, I think that we should not have had this discussion on 9/11 or 9/10 or 9/12. Because I think it perpetuates this notion that, somehow, the original decision to go into Iraq was directly related to the attacks on 9/11.

. . . And so I think that some of the frustration you hear from some of the questioners is that we have now set the bar so low that modest improvement in what was a completely chaotic situation, to the point where now we just have the levels of intolerable violence that existed in June of 2006 is considered success, and it's not.

That is exactly the problem and the reason, to date, that the democrats have been having such a hard time leveraging a pull out from Iraq. The Republican party cleverly lowers the bar of expectations and a complacent corporate media does what it always does and just goes along. That is how you get a ghost written article on CBSNews called surge success goes unnoticed written by none other than Bill Kristol.

Obviously, it's too early to say anything more definitive than that there are real signs of progress in Baghdad.

That prediction made by Kristol back in March of this year was followed a month later by reports that the American military was considering building a wall around Baghdad to curb the growing violence. The bar for progress we have set now would have been considered a complete and utter failure back in 2003.

"Our mission continues...The War on Terror continues, yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide."

- George W. Bush "Mission Accomplished" speech on May 1, 2003

Turning of the tide? The occupation of Iraq is not endless? We are sick of this administration kicking the ball on this utter failure we call Iraq down the road another six months. The Iraqi government has only met 7 of the 18 goals set by the US congress for this surge. A 39% complete report by any standard is an F.

Greg Sargent of TPM noted Obama's best moment came when he posed the following question to Petraeus and Crocker:

"If we're there the same place a year from now can you please describe for me any circumstances in which you would make a different recommendation and suggest it is now time for us to start withdrawing our troops? Any scenario. Any set of benchmarks, that have not been met."

- Barack Obama per Obama Confronts Petraeus And Crocker

There is no longer a rationale for continuing this war. The situation in Iraq is not likely to get better under either scenario of staying or leaving. However, our country's resources and troops are best serve by leaving this bad situation as soon as possible. It is unfortunate that Obama's opposition back in 2002 was not heeded before this war was authorized. But we are now at the point that we cannot authorize more money without a timeline. I hope Obama sticks to his guns on this one and call the sheep what it is . . . a wolf.

Cool Videos


Obama Smackdown Series: ABC News Iowa Debate 8/19/07: The experience old way of doing things establishment candidates, Biden, Clinton and Dodd tried to gang up on Obama about his length of time in the senate. Obama fought back hard against their nonsense.

lovingj calls Thom Hartman Show to discuss Barack Obama: I listen to a lot of progressive talk and watch a great deal of cable news (NOT FOX!!!!). I have been annoyed as of late how progressive radio hosts only mention Obama as it pertains to Clinton and their money and the MSM only discusses Obama in the context of the latest Clinton/Obama fight. Talk radio is actively pushing John Edwards while the MSM is actively pushing Hillary Clinton and they overlook what Obama is really about.

Obama and Gore: Leaders to deal with Global Warming: A tribute to two leaders who are significantly changing the political landscape.

What Obama is About: A summary of his policies