Obama and Foreign Policy
Sep 25th, 2008 by daliah.singer
With Republican presidential nominee John McCain beating him in the polls, Democratic nominee Barack Obama took time yesterday to connect McCain to unpopular president George W. Bush and strongly criticize Bush’s decision to remove only 8,000 troops from Iraq by February.
An MSNBC Online article, Obama rejects Bush Iraq Withdrawal Plan, outlines Obama’s attack on the president.
Obama has pledged to withdraw troops from Iraq within 16 months of becoming president, a far cry from McCain’s plan, which is more in line with what Bush has been doing.
Bush’s announcement that he will keep troop numbers steady was lambasted by Obama, who believes U.S. taxpayers will end up paying the price. Obama also said the decision would be giving “Iraq’s leaders a blank check instead of pressing them to reconcile their differences.”
Obama was critical, too, of McCain who he believes is not running on a platform of change but on one that will repeat the policies of the last four years.
What I find most interesting is the article focuses only briefly on Obama’s comments. In addition, most articles concerning the candidates’ foreign policy platforms don’t go into why the respectives methods are good and/or bad.
Obama says he’s going to remove all troops within 16 months of his presidency; McCain says it will be a slower transition. Neither of them, however, seems to spend much time talking about the reasons behind their decision. Obviously, Obama wants to present his opposition to the war, but will a short 16 months prepare the Iraqi people to peacefully (or semi-peacefully) co-exist? What are the pros and cons of each decision?
Over those 16 months, will new troops be sent over to replace those that have been in Iraq for a long stint? Will soldiers have to return for a fourth tour of duty during that time or will the numbers slowly deplete? What if there is a negative consequence?
As voters, we may know what the candidates’ stances are on the issues, but do we ever really know why they take that stance?
Rarely.