Obama on Foreign policy...
"It's ironic because this is supposedly the place where experience is most needed to be Commander-in-Chief. Experience in Washington is not knowledge of the world. This I know. When Senator Clinton brags 'I've met leaders from eighty countries'--I know what those trips are like! I've been on them. You go from the airport to the embassy. There's a group of children who do native dance. You meet with the CIA station chief and the embassy and they give you a briefing. You go take a tour of a plant that [with] the assistance of USAID has started something. And then--you go."
"You do that in eighty countries--you don't know those eighty countries. So when I speak about having lived in Indonesia for four years, having family that is impoverished in small villages in Africa--knowing the leaders is not important--what I know is the people. . . ."
"I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college--I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. . . ."
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Having spent a significant part of my life overseas, I can relate to what he is saying here. Traveling overseas on a diplomatic mission is nothing like traveling the world and having direct contact with real people. There is a good reason we send young college students overseas for a year. Some elect to go to place like Paris. Others to go to places where lifelong lessons can be learned. Have not traveled the world as an official, but his description sounds pretty accurate.
Guess he won't confuse Sunni and Shia. Probably understands the subdivision of these groups (Wahabis, Ismailis, Karijites, ...). If WE are going to fight there forever and bring about peace, shouldn't we know and understand the people we are trying to bring together for a better judgement?
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Comments: 15
Yeah, these foreign trips are ridiculous. In particular, the "fact finding trips". These trips are a joke on the tax payer's dime. They go to nice hotels, sip wine with other leaders who are as detached from their people as themselves and call it a day. I will take Chris Dodd's experience of serving in the Peace Corps over 80 such trips any day.
If elected President, he'll be beaten to a pulp by a real strongman like Putin, who's about to become Prime Minister of Russia, after his Presidency is over. That will be a nice "trial by fire" for Obama..............however, he'll have 3rd degree burns afterwards.
We just can't afford someone who just doesn't understand Iraq -- it's too dangerous.
John McCain is so wrong on Iraq, he can't even get the basic facts about the situation on the ground correct.
Today, as he was questioning Gen. David Petraeus, he again confused the difference between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
At least five times as a candidate John McCain has stated that Iran (a Shiite nation) is supporting Al-Qaeda (a Sunni group) in Iraq. This is not some minor mistake, but a significant gaffe. He clearly does not understand the sensitive political dynamics in that region of the world.
What's worse is that he's done it at important times when you'd expect him to be at his best -- he did it today in the Senate while questioning the commander of American forces in Iraq, and he did it on a recent trip to the Middle East.
If John McCain can't remember such a simple fact at crucial times, how will he be able to do it as President?
We have to stop John McCain from taking control of the White House, and stop him from taking over George Bush's war in Iraq.
I've spoken to Professor Austan Goolsbee a few times (Obama's Econ adviser) here in Chicago.............he's spoken to many Democratic party people. He's a professor at the University of Chicago grad school of business.
I trust Professor Goolsbee, but I don't trust Obama's lack of knowledge on Economics matters................Obama's unknowledgable, even by Goolsbee's generous assessment.
Similarly, Obama has some experience living overseas. I don't think he should overstate those credentials as much of it was long ago. But, I do think that the experience of living among other cultures is incredibly valuable. I do think that growing up the son of a mixed race marriage in the 1960s is also incredibly valuable in the sense that it can teach you how to accept the viewpoints of others.
I have friends from the UK that agree with Bret that people like Putin would eat Obama alive. I happen to disagree. For one, it assumes that Obama isn't intelligent enough to see that Putin and others would be trying to exploit any perceived weakness. Obama is certainly intelligent and has shown he can see many sides of issues, which means it highly likely that he would see through Putin's attempts. In any case, the premise is faulty - look at the tough guy Bush who "looked into Putin's eyes" and saw into his soul. And yet Putin played Bush like a fine - but naive - violin.
And frankly the other candidates are in the same boat.
McCain himself has acknowledged his lack of economic expertise. I wouldn't have expected otherwise. My concern is that he didn't seem to care about economics. In any case, he now has made some effort to bring in advisors.
Hillary Clinton doesn't have any real economic expertise either. Again, she has, and will continue to, get advice from those who make it their business to know such things.
Leadership does not require expertise and knowledge of every detail of a particular issue. It does require the ability to listen to multiple stakeholder viewpoints, synthesize the input, make decisions, and communicate those decisions and the rationale behind them to the Congress, the American people, and the world. Obama has these skills.
Good article, Alan, and excellent point. I was listening to a Congressman talk on C-Span last week about the Columbian trade deal. He said that the Bush administration is trying to send everyone down to Columbia for 1-1/2 days to "understand" why we need this deal so badly. He laughed at how ridiculous those types of visits were - the diplomatic visits, the dinners, the 10-minute speech by the country attache trying to persuade you to do whatever the president wants.
The more I hear Obama speak, the more I respect and admire him. I cannot wait to cast my vote for the man...it's been a LONG time (way TOO long a time) since we have had a real intelligent, honest person as a serious presidential candidate.
That would make sense, to those who care about things like making sense.
I agree with Sheryl, and others who expressed similar opinions. Barack Obama is an intelligent, honest person, and I am honored to have the opportunity to help elect him.