Obama Overseas Campaign Swing Underway ( Questions and Briefing Book )

Flopping Aces ^ | Jul 19, 2008 | Mike's America

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Here are some questions he SHOULD be asked!

So the anointed savior of the American left is busy on his world tour this weekend, having already visited Kuwait and Afghanistan. Along for the ride are some of the leading lights of the American “news” media.

Before the acolytes of the anointed one boarded the plane with Obama representatives of John McCain’s campaign handed reporters a briefing book, complete with Obama’s faux presidential seal and containing 17 pages of suggested questions reporters who were truly interested in serving the public good as opposed to a liberal political agenda might want to ask.

Marc Ambinder has a copy of the briefing book and you can download it here.

Here are a sampling of questions from the briefing book that I’d like to see answered:

You said on “Meet the Press,” on May 4, 2008, “I think we have to be focused on Afghanistan.” So why is it that, according to The Hill newspaper, you have “missed two of three Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Afghanistan since joining the panel” ? And why have you only now decided to visit Afghanistan for the first time after having been in office for more than three and a half years? Yet you’ve already visited Iraq once. Why aren’t you focused on Afghanistan in your work as a senator?

You’ve also talked about how critical it is to get our European allies to increase their contributions in Afghanistan. “As we step up our commitment,” you said on August 1, 2007, “our European friends must do the same, and without the burdensome restrictions that have hampered NATO’s efforts.” Yet as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs since January 2007 you haven’t held a single hearing on this or any other subject. Why not? Are you putting your political ambitions above doing the job that the people of Illinois elected you to do?

You predicted that the surge in Iraq would fail. In January 2007 you said, “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.” You still deny that the surge has been a success, even if violence is down. “Iraq’s leaders have not made the political progress that was the purpose of the surge,” you claim. Yet you are now proposing a smaller surge in Afghanistan of two brigades, or about 8,000 troops. Why do you think a smaller surge will work in Afghanistan when you were convinced that a bigger surge would fail in Iraq?

At a presidential debate on February 21, 2008, you complained that our troops in Afghanistan “didn’t have enough ammunition, they didn’t have enough Humvees.” So why did you vote against giving them the funding they need to fight? On May 24, 2007, you were one of only 14 senators who voted against a $94.4 billion spending bill that included crucial funding for our troops not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan.

You’ve said we need to “use the power of American diplomacy” and that “It’s time to turn the page on the diplomacy of tough talk and no action.” Yet in the very same speech, you also said: “If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will.” Pakistan’s foreign minister branded your statement as “very irresponsible.” Why do you think it’s a good idea to bluster in public about taking military action on the soil of an American ally? And how do you think that such statements will help you to achieve your goal of initiating “a new relationship” with Pakistan “so that we can get better cooperation to hunt down al-Qaeda”?

More Questions For Obama

There are more questions in the briefing book for Obama in Iraq. And I invite readers to add their own in the comments section.

But here are a few more I would like to ask:

Iraq

You’ve repeatedly said that you never would have gone to war with Iraq. How would you explain to the mother searching the mass graves in Hila for her family (see below) or the couple who braved violence to vote with their children why they would have been better off with Saddam still in power?

[Texas4ever]

JUNIORS FIRST FIELD TRIP!!! aaaah

How cute....He’s a big boy now!!!

[Candor7]

Obama, I knew Ronald Reagan, and YOU are no Ronald Reagan!

[BOBTHENAILER]

” Why do you think it’s a good idea to bluster in public about taking military action on the soil of an American ally? And if thee actions create turmoil and then revolution, resulting in a takeover of the Paki military by hardline ISI allied with al Qaeda, do you think Mr. Obamination, that the hardliners might want to take a grab at several nicely constructed nukes and then use "em over hear???

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Yes,...that should be a question on a Sunday Talk Show....but those shows are Worthless anymore....

[BIGLOOK]

Even suggesting breaking relations with Pakistan imperils our efforts in Afghanistan. The Pakistanis allow us to supply and replenish our troops. They're holding check on their nuclear weapons capabilities (due largely to Bush's State Dept. reading them the riot act after Sept. 11th.) Currently the US is allied with Pakistan and India....there's a balance of power in South Asia, a fragile one that could be tipped by the Know Nothing candidate Obama and his dangerous ignorance.

I wonder how much he learned in his fifteen minutes in Afghanistan. His foreign policy experience is limited to what's on TV.

I think the guy's a sleeper.

[panthermom]

I do not believe that he will be President. Other than the 4 libs that I work for I do not know anybody who will be voting for this guy. The thing that I am hearing from people is they are concerned about the racism angle that is being thrown around if you disagree with him, what is going to happen when he loses.

Each day that goes by he is being exposed for the idiot he truly is. My brother is in Iraq in the green zone, when McCain was there last time, he said the guys loved him. I can’t wait to get the real story of Obama’s visit. Which my bro says everyone knows is just a photo op and has nothing to do with the war. When Pelosi was there she spent 10 minutes, took some pictures and off she went. They know they are not respected by the people over there.

[yield 2 the right]

I hope not, but with the MSM behind Obama and with McCain unwilling to say the hard truths about Obama(out of fear of being called a racist)I do not have a good felling about McCain’s chances... JMHO.....

Prayers for your brother and all others over there may they all come home safe and sound....

[yield 2 the right]

Quite a few people, they just want change and to feel good and to be liked the world over......