Thursday, March 20, 2008

Obama the Benevolent Pollster

Obama has come out with another weird take on foreign policy. He asked the rhetorical question of whether the American people want a president who opposed the Iraq war from the start (Obama's position), or one who only started opposing it after running for president (Hillary's take).

How about...neither?

I sigh when I hear Obama trot out the same old line, that he will make a good President because he's "against the war." He think the polls back him up on this, but he's wrong.

It's a rare event, but when you see it, you'll know what it is: a poll that asks American citizens if the war is going well. Guess what? Low numbers. Then another question, seldom given screentime, from the same poll: should American troops be removed from Iraq? Low numbers.

Many Americans do not detest the war itself, but the way that it is being fought. They want a more aggressive campaign, with results to show for it. Now that the number of terrorist attacks in Iraq have been chopped in half since this same time last year, the polls are swinging in a more optimistic direction (and the headlines have dried up; not enough American blood being spilled). This is not a fluke.

Just once I'd like to hear Obama say what he is for, not what he is against. If you're against the war and want to bring the troops home next February, okay, but what are you going to do after that? I suppose you could start writing letters of apology to all of the Iraqi people that get massacred after the American exit. If so, I hope you have a lot of ink. Make it purple, and call it a symbolic gesture.

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