jaipur:
Andy_Shofar:
jaipur:
mustangsally10:
Here is an excerpt from a speech Barack Obama gave on October 26, 2002...long before he knew he would run for US president or even succeed in his campaign for US Senator from Illinois. It is brilliant in its use of reason, logic and judgement. Here tis: I don?t oppose all wars. After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this Administration?s pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. I don?t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income ? to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That?s what I?m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear ? I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He?s a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him. But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I?m opposed to dumb wars. ---State Senator Barack Obama, Illinois, Oct. 26th, 2002 For entire speech which was delivered at an anti-war rally in Chicago on October 26, 2002 click here: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama's_Iraq_Speech :: Peace
Then why does Obama tell us he was "oppose to the war' from the begining? Speeches do not indicate ability to govern,
Neither does being a Senator from NY for 5 or so years (or being a "First Lady" for 8 years) indicate anyones future ability to govern
Being a senator from Massachusetts worked for JFK
True - usually Senators do not get elected to President. A Governor is more apt to be elected President (if there is one in the running???).