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Obama's Foreign-Policy Pledge Sparks Criticism From Rivals
WSJ ^ | March 26, 2008 | JAY SOLOMON

Posted on 03/26/2008 10:02:48 PM PDT by Red Steel

Barack Obama is drawing fresh fire for pledging to hold direct talks with foreign adversaries, an approach both Hillary Clinton and John McCain say they will hit hard.

Critics in the foreign-policy establishment and from rival presidential camps said his idea could undercut pro-Western forces and legitimize leaders whose power the U.S. wants to undermine, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Increasingly, they are presenting his ideas as a radical departure from standard U.S. doctrine.

Presidents for decades avoided meeting directly with the leaders of Iran, Cuba and North Korea.

"If you look beyond Iraq, the entire diplomatic approach [of Senator Obama] seems to be kind of New Age: let's talk to our enemies rather then reinvigorating our allies," said Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign's director of foreign policy. "It's naive."

The Obama campaign said it may be necessary to balance the Bush administration and the way it isolated hostile countries and alienated allies.

"I don't think [what Obama's proposing] is that much of a difference from what U.S. policy used to be." said Anthony Lake, a senior foreign-policy adviser to Sen. Obama and a national-security adviser to President Bill Clinton. "It's just different from what the other candidates are saying."

Sen. Obama has sought to cast his candidacy as a rebuke of the hawkish foreign-policy line he sees as having led to the Iraq invasion and the diplomatic stalemates undermining U.S. efforts to end Iran's and North Korea's nuclear programs.

In speeches, Sen. Obama has said Washington's global standing has plummeted in the past eight years, in part because of President Bush's unwillingness to directly engage leaders such as Mr. Ahmadinejad or North Korea's Kim Jong Il. Sen. Obama has said he would be willing to directly hold talks with these leaders during his first year to underpin efforts to

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: jeremiahsmessiah; marxism; nobama; obama

1 posted on 03/26/2008 10:02:49 PM PDT by Red Steel
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To: Red Steel
"The Obama campaign said it may be necessary to balance the Bush administration and the way it isolated hostile countries and alienated allies."

What BS. Bush has NOT done any such thing, in fact he has opened up more dialoge than any DEMOCRAT president before him.

2 posted on 03/26/2008 10:07:05 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: Red Steel
"The Obama campaign said it may be necessary to balance the Bush administration and the way it isolated hostile countries and alienated allies."

What BS. Bush has NOT done any such thing, in fact he has opened up more dialoge than any DEMOCRAT president before him.

3 posted on 03/26/2008 10:07:46 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: Red Steel

Rev Wright’s recurrent theme is the US is wrong for villifying the likes of Castro, Chavez, et al. Obama has no foreign policy experience, and he got these ideas from Wright’s left wing sermons. I’m sure his Weather Underground friend and other leftists were also contributors.


4 posted on 03/26/2008 10:08:35 PM PDT by Williams
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To: Red Steel
Anti-Israel egyptian singer makes Obama song
5 posted on 03/26/2008 10:10:46 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: Red Steel

Obma sounds like Carter on steroids.


6 posted on 03/26/2008 10:13:20 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham ("The land of the Free...Because of the Brave")
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To: Nathan Zachary
I agree 100%! Photobucket
7 posted on 03/26/2008 10:17:37 PM PDT by xuberalles ("Barack Obama: Change Is A Dime Bag!" http://www.cafepress.com/titillatingtees.225246874)
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To: Red Steel

the Dems great black joke just keeps getting better

they shoulda stuck with Hillary...she at least has proven she will fight to win and has some guts and saavy

i never thought i would say this....they both suck but:

i have no doubt Hillary would fight better than Obama against our enemies....espcially if they pissed her off

amazing isn’t it?

these two make McCain look better by comparisoneven though he was number 5 or 6 on my preference


8 posted on 03/26/2008 10:21:32 PM PDT by wardaddy (Obama: The candidate for those who think Deliverance was a documentary.)
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To: wardaddy

That’s interesting, I think you’re right. Hillary is a liar, a megalomaniac and a lefist, but she is an American, in her heart she wants America to win regardless of how misguided some of her policy ideas might be. Obama, however, is not an American in any way except by the fact of his citizenship. In his heart, his understanding, and his loyalties, he is a traitor.


9 posted on 03/26/2008 11:03:31 PM PDT by baa39
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To: baa39

yep...and she is meaner....no doubt about that..lol

course Mccain is mean too


10 posted on 03/26/2008 11:42:00 PM PDT by wardaddy (Obama: The candidate for those who think Deliverance was a documentary.)
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