Obama May Be The Next JFK. But Which JFK? (Wet Behind The Ears)

ForeignPolicy-Passport ^ | Thu, 09/13/2007 - 3:54pm. | Editors

[fight_truth_decay]

Two days after Barak Obama's latest foreign-policy gaffe—allowing reporters to see him reading a memo from his campaign advisors on how to spin the war in Iraq—there's a new round whispering among Washington's foreign-policy watchers as to whether the Illinois senator and presidential wannabe can really be taken seriously on these subjects. Similar chatter could be heard this summer after Obama's previous blunders on Pakistan and Israel-Palestine.

This most recent episode occurred during Tuesday's Senate testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker. To be Reading a memo about how to politicize the war during their testimony showed incredibly bad taste. Regardless of what you think about their policies, Petraeus and Crocker are risking their lives every day in Iraq. While I'm not naive enough to think politics doesn't play a role in the conflict, a man who wants to be the next commander in chief should have shown more respect. As the Telegraph's Toby Harndon has noted, the screwup is enough to bring into question just how sincere Obama is about changing the culture in Washington.

Obama talks about building consensus. His performance on the foreign-policy front suggests he and his staff spend most of their time trying to find consensus among themselves. Rumor has it Obama's got a huge cadre of people advising him on foreign policy. It shows. Yesterday in Clinton County, Iowa, he released his plan (pdf) to end the war in Iraq. "The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war," the plan says, "is to begin immediately to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year -now." Seven lines later, it says: "Under the Obama plan, American troops may remain in Iraq

[WOSG]

He’s one generation from being part of Kenya’s corrupt political elite. From one elite generation to another.

[Beckwith]

His father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr., was a member of the Kenyatta government.

In fact, Obama Sr.'s scholarship to the University of Hawaii at Manoa Senior's was facilitated by a Kenyan cabinet minister, the late Tom Mboya, who was earmarked as Jomo Kenyatta's successor.

The Obama File

[jslade]

Notice the dirty fingernails....clean, articulate?

[Beckwith]

the Senator’s ancestral home - - aka, “the jungle”