Obama, McCain Spar on Iraq, Economy as DNC Takes Aim at McCain
April 27: Barack Obama center, attends a church service at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.
Barack Obama and John McCain clashed Sunday over Iraq war policy and the economy as the Democratic party aimed a new attack against McCain with an advertisement questioning a remark he made over keeping troops in Iraq for up to 100 years.
In an interview that aired Sunday, Obama praised the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, for the progress he has made in taming sectarian violence there, but said he would set the goal of removing troops in Iraq even if Petraeus — who was nominated this week to take charge of U.S. Central Command — recommended against it.
“I think Petraeus has done a good tactical job in Iraq. I think as a practical matter, obviously, that’s where most of the attention has been devoted from this administration over the last several years,” Obama said on “FOX News Sunday.”
Asked what he would do if Petraeus recommended against withdrawing troops from Iraq — an Obama campaign pledge — Obama said “it would be stupid” not to listen, but in the end, he would keep the goal of withdrawing troops.
“I will listen to General Petraeus given the experience that he has accumulated over the last several years. It would be stupid of me to ignore what he has to say. But it is my job as president, it would be my job as commander in chief, to set the mission, to make the strategic decisions in light of the problems that we’re having in Afghanistan, in light of the problems that we are having in Pakistan, the fact that Al Qaeda is strengthening, as our national intelligence estimates have indicated, since 2001,” Obama said.
He added: “What I would do is I would say — what I will do is say, ‘We have a new mission. It is my strategic assessment that we have to provide a time table to the Iraqi government. I want you to tell me how best to execute this new assignment, and I am happy to listen to the tactical considerations and any ideas you have, but what I will not do is to continue to let the Iraqi government off the hook and allow them to put our foreign policy on ice while they dither about making decisions about how they’re going to cooperate with each other.’ ”
McCain’s campaign fired back a statement over the exchange, saying Obama’s statements were “a complete contradiction of his record.”
“Are we to believe Senator Obama has the strength to take recommendations from General Patraeus, who has advised against immediate withdrawal, when Obama has repeatedly shown that he can’t stand up to the left-wing interests in his party?
“Again, Senator Obama said he would raise taxes on hardworking families during an economic downturn, which makes it clear that he doesn’t understand the American economy. His inconsistencies raised many more questions about Barack Obama’s strength than they answered, and American families cannot afford leadership that can’t deliver,” McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said, according to a campaign statement.
Later in the day, McCain took Obama to task over comments he made regarding taxes.
During the FOX interview, Obama criticized McCain, saying McCain switching his position from opposing President Bush’s tax cuts to later supporting them.
“Somewhere along the line, you know, his conscience took flight because he was looking to get nominated for the Republican — as the Republican nominee,” Obama said.
McCain fired back: “I think that my record is very clear of having had a vigorous proposal for tax cuts, for spending restraint. My efforts at bringing about a restraint in growth of spending are very clear while Senator Obama has supported the spending increases and sought pork barrell projects … causing spending to be completely out of control.”
Focusing on Obama’s support of raising taxes, including the capital gains tax, McCain said Obama “has no understanding of the economy and that he is totally insensitive to the hopes and dreams and ambitions of 100 million Americans who would be effected by his almost doubling of the capital gains tax, not to mention his desire to increase the cap on social security, which again would have a devastating tax increase effect on Americna families. He is out of touch with the economy.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee’s new ad leveled against McCain is part of a half-million-dollar, three-week national cable television campaign aimed at linking the Arizona senator to the policies of President Bush.
The ad set to begin airing Monday accuses McCain of wanting to remain in Iraq for “maybe 100″ years, a link to a remark McCain made in January while campaigning in New Hampshire. The ad concludes, “If all he offers is more of the same is John McCain the right choice for America’s future?”
Since then, McCain has repeatedly said he has no intention of extending the war into the next century, but would keep a U.S. military presence in Iraq much as the United States has in Germany, Japan and South Korea.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Sunday that McCain is “wrong” and “out of step” with public sentiment on the war.
“We’re not arguing that he’s going to be in war for a hundred years. We don’t think we ought to be in Iraq for a hundred years under any circumstances,” Dean said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“Think of the hundreds of billions of dollars that are being spent in Iraq which we need right here at home to preserve American jobs. … Secondly, if Senator McCain believes that you can occupy a country like Iraq for a hundred years without having a long war and violence and troops being hurt and killed, I think Senator McCain is wrong,” Dean said.
Citing a poll, Dean said 70 percent of Americans do not want troops to stay in IRaq under any circumstances, adding, “He is out of step with the American people.”
The Democratic candidates have also acknowledged they would keep non-combat troops in Iraq to ensure its stability. But they have said they would begin withdrawing combat troops promptly upon becoming president, a step McCain has said would be precipitous.
McCain first uttered the comments about the 100 years in Iraq in response to a question during a January town hall meeting in New Hampshire, saying he’d be “fine” with a long-term U.S. commitment in Iraq.
“President Bush has talked about our staying for 50 years, maybe 100. We’ve been in Japan for 60 years, in South Korea for 50 years or so. That would be fine with me as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or killed,” McCain said at the time.
As recently as March, Obama linked the troop presence to ongoing war, but has since tailored the message to ongoing troop presence, versus continued fighting.
The DNC has been organizing a drumbeat against McCain at the state party level to coincide with McCain’s travels across the country.
Meanwhile, Obama has become a Republican target. The North Carolina Republican Party aired an ad, over McCain’s objections, that uses remarks by Obama’s former pastor to portray Obama as too extreme. The ad points out that the two Democrats running for state governor have endorsed the Illinois senator.
Freedom’s Watch, a conservative group, and the National Republican Congressional Committee are running ads in Louisiana criticizing Obama’s health care proposal and linking him to a Louisiana congressional candidate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
It would help if Obama knew what money is (since king Soloman) and took an economic sourse in a recognized university! It appears that Obama was taught his knowledge in de streets by low level union hard liners!
I’d like to think that if McCain had been elected in 2000, we would never have invaded Iraq. We never would have accumunlated this horrible national debt that will cause most of us — except for those “have REALLY mores” — to bear a finanacil burden created by Washington egos and the politics of creating fear. We would not have had our military strecthed to and beyond its limits, making us more vunerable than before 9/11.
But, now McCain is stuck with having to defend the invasion. and keeping us in Iraq.
That means he’s stuck with increasing, not reducing, the national debt.
Ron Paul actually had it right.
Obama should well go to church; John McCain has already been to hell; when Obama grows out of short pants he may get to be preswident; my bet is that I will see him in hell first!
At this point I don’t think our miltary goals are just about achieved in Iraq. We willbe reducing our presence there and changing the mission from combat to training and support. I don’t see any need for more than 75,000 tropps by the end of 2009. However, McCain is right in saying that that much reduced presence might be needed for an undetermined period (the shorter the better) even after the mission has been changed. I would tend to believe that the Iraqi force build-up will take approimately half of a generation of a typical officer’s career. In other words after approximately 10 years the Iraqi army will be able to have an effective feed-back loop of training for its own troops and will not need much of anything form us.
Obama is a person of mixed race, raised in Hawaii by his white grandparents. I’ve never seen a picture of or a good reference to his white family, so I have to ask the question.
Where does the child of a single mother, raised by his grandparents, gain the ability to attend ivy league colleges and own million dollar homes while never having a job that produced anything? Especially when all the while attending a church that hates white people and hates America. Add his marriage to a woman that until a moment ago had no reason to be proud to be an American.
Now he want’s to my president?
Really?
As a war vet. I believe our search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is over. We should leave Iraq. Affectively hunting down terrorists is best left to CIA, FBI and special forces.
Can we just start all over on the voting?
“Obama said ‘it would be stupid’ not to listen, but in the end, he would keep the goal of withdrawing troops” — Warning to the Military, IS this the POTUS you want?
Didn’t the Dems run in ‘06 on the promise that they’d get the US out of Iraq immediately? Lots of empty promises are flying around again In the late 1930’s 70% of the Americans and Brits didn’t think Hitler was a real problem. They were dead wrong then. Are 70% of the American public wrong again - my source in Iraq says yes.
Listen! I, myself is from Japan. Don’t talk about Japan w/o me, Japanese Citizen.
After the WWII, American navy, army and air force have been staying Japan, (Okinawa, Kure, Sasebo, etc.) and we are more than welcome to have them stay as long as they like. You don’t understand, OBAMA and DEMOCRAT Party, ask us, Japanese.
Japanese people are happy because we are always threatened from North Korea.
We are thankful for America to protect us for a long time. Obama has NO idea what he is talking about. I can here legally under the circumstances and it took almost two years in Japan to process for getting Green Card but it didn’t bother me. It’s very hard to give up my citizen so I probably keep my Green card for a long time. I’m proud of what I am but I just want to say that Obama has no knowledge. That guy never be able to lead the U. S. A. People are fallen into his trick.
PLEASE VOTE FOR MCCAIN!
GOD BLESS AMERICA AND THANK YOU ALL THE U.S. MILITARY STAYING JAPAN!!