Obama, having it two ways on Iraq

Obama, Obama, having it two ways on Iraq?

Obama was not in the Senate in October of 2002. Yet he still runs on this "against the war" message.

Before Obama was sworn into the US Senate in 2005, he made this statement in July of 2004. Barack Obama: "I'm not privy to Senate intelligence reports...What would I have done? I don't know," he was later asked this question, in terms of how you would have voted on the war? Obama: "there's not much of a difference between my position and George Bush's position at this stage."

In 2007, Obama has won many of the delegates and he is now on the trail saying "we expect that John McCain may end up being the nominee. And if John McCain is the nominee, then the Democratic party has to ask itself 'Do you want a candidate who has similar policies to John McCain on the war in Iraq or someone who can offer a stark contrast?' See, when I am the nominee, McCain won’t be able to say that you were for this war in Iraq, because I wasn’t. He won’t be able to say that I followed the Bush-Cheney doctrine in not talking to leaders we don’t like because I don’t. He won’t be able to say that I went along and gave George Bush the benefit of a doubt on Iran because I haven’t. He won’t be able to say that I was unclear about my position on torture because I’ve been absolutely clear we never torture in this country. I can offer a clear and clean break from the failed policies of George W. Bush. I won’t have to explain my votes in the past." Why is that Obama? Oh yeah I remember, Obama was not in the Senate in 2002. But it's not the first time Obama has bounced around on Iraq. He regularly says he's against the Iraq war, for example, but when asked by the New York Times in July 2004 how he would have voted in 2002, he said, "What would I have done? I don't know." Fast forward to 2006 when he told the New Yorker's David Remnick that senators who saw intelligence reports on Iraq may have been justified in voting for the invasion. "I didn't have the benefit of U.S. intelligence," he said. "And, for those who did, it might have led to a different set of choices."

Obama has put out allegations on Hillary but let us address them one by one.

#1
Obama begins by criticizing Hillary on Iraq. Sen. Obama does not mention that -- with the exception of Hillary's opposition to the promotion of Iraq war architect Gen. George Casey -- Sen. Obama and Hillary have identical voting records on the Iraq war.

#2
Obama then misrepresents Hillary’s position on diplomacy. Hillary criticized Sen. Obama for pre-committing to a personal meeting in his first year with "with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea." She never said that a president should only meet with America's friends. She also promised vigorous diplomatic efforts with all countries, friend and foe.

#3
Sen. Obama then misrepresents Hillary’s position on Iran. In fact, Hillary was one of the earliest and staunchest opponents of Bush’s saber rattling on Iran, and spoke out on the issue back in February:Hillary made a floor speech declaring that President Bush must get authorization from Congress before taking military action against Iran. Hillary co-sponsored the Webb bill prohibiting use of funds for military action in Iran without Congressional authorization. Sen. Obama missed the vote he is now using to attack Hillary. He issued a release 9 hours later and co-sponsored a similar bill in April. The bill was also supported by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), a staunch anti-war Bush critic and prominent Obama supporter. Read more here and here.

#4
Sen. Obama accuses Hillary of changing her policy on torture due to ‘the politics of the moment.’ He couldn’t be more wrong. Hillary met with retired generals, talked with experienced military officers, and read reports commissioned by the Defense Intelligence Agency. She concluded that 'torture cannot be part of American policy, period.'

I was reading from an online blog this morning and a clip from Obama's book, Audacity of Hope: he points out,

For that is how most of my colleagues, republican and democrate, enter the Senate...their words distorted and their motives questioned.

Then what are you doing Obama. While running for Senate, Sen. Obama acknowledged that he took his anti-war speech off his campaign website, calling it "dated". Obama listen what you are doing is wrong, run a truthful campaign.