Obama Boasts of Being “ahead of the curve” on Foreign Relations
EmailABC News’ Sunlen Miller reports: Barack Obama told a group of New Hampshire voters that he was "ahead of the curve" in relation to President George Bush on foreign relations.
The assertion came while Obama was defending his stance to talk enemies of the United States, as well as friends, a major different arisen between himself and his top opponent, Hillary Clinton.
But now Obama is dragging the president into the fray.
"Now I’m glad to see, now suddenly George Bush is writing letters to Kim Jung Ill, and North Korea," Obama told Exeter residents, "So maybe I’m six months or nine months ahead of the curve. And I will keep on making these arguments and maybe other folks will decide they make sense."
Obama, often viewed as inexperienced, especially on the topic of foreign policy, boasted that he stood by his opinion that the US should talk to enemies, an opinion that gained him much criticism and questioning.
"When I first said that there were these gasps and a bunch of the pundits wrote that this was a terrible gaffe and Hillary really put him in his place and this and that. And then they were shocked when I said the same thing the next day, and a week later, and two weeks later,” Obama relished.
Obama regularly points out on the campaign trail that this is a major difference he has with Senator Clinton.
"I may not change their minds, but it sends a signal to the world that we see military action as a last resort, not a first resort, and that actually strengthens our ability to influence world affairs and make us safer."
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I am liking him better and better all the time.
Posted by: Denise | December 21, 2007, 8:04 am 8:04 am
Obama brings wisdom and judgment to the table. Is Bush not exchanging friendly communications with North Korea today? Has the tension with North Korea not diminished? This is what Obama has said from the beginning and Hillary almost swallowed him up. Hillary Clinton is a disgraced! She has no diplomatic credentials.
Posted by: Sam Lobey | December 21, 2007, 10:22 am 10:22 am
Obama’s consistency and candor are refreshing.
Posted by: Jacob | December 21, 2007, 10:24 am 10:24 am
Finally he’s hitting these points! He has been right on this and so many points all along (no nukes against terorrist camps, going after bin Laden in Pakistan, etc.). It’s funny to watch the “very serious foreign policy establishment” (including Hillary) deride his positions only to find themselves adopting them six months later. OBama is a true leader with vision, the opposite of Hillary.
Posted by: waka waka | December 21, 2007, 10:52 am 10:52 am
So, you say he’s “often viewed as inexperienced, especially on the topic of foreign policy”? Because, yeah, its not like he majored in it at Columbia or anything. Oh, wait, he did.
Posted by: Steve | December 21, 2007, 11:25 am 11:25 am
Of course he’s going to keep saying the same thing. To do otherwise would mean he had flip-flopped, and this is something he avoids like the plague. Obama is a very smart guy, but in this respect he’s just like GW Bush – unwilling to admit that he might have been wrong.
Posted by: Bob | December 21, 2007, 11:31 am 11:31 am
Re: Bob.
“unwilling to admit that he might have been wrong.”
Except that, um, you know, he was RIGHT.
Good grief.
Posted by: Doug | December 21, 2007, 11:34 am 11:34 am
I echo Doug’s point and add, would Bob rather have Obama change his mind every time someone criticizes him in the media?
Posted by: Beth | December 21, 2007, 12:05 pm 12:05 pm
Obama is hitting his stride now. Good thing for the Dems because a Clinton nomination would almost certainly mean another catastrophic Repub President.
Posted by: Boo Radley | December 21, 2007, 1:07 pm 1:07 pm
To say that Obama brings wisdom, or he has any knowledge of Foreign policy is laughable. Please, why the Obamarama people try to elevate a simple, inexperience guy to the level of the “WISDOM _GOD_ KNOWS EVERYTHING.” I haven’t seeen in this country or any of the developed countries for that matter such misrepresentation of a leader. The fact is that Obama is a fine man, like many other in the country; but to believe that he is the savior of our country, or the right leader to bring this country forward with all the problems in foreign relations, economy, justice, etc…is naive and non sense. His campaign advisors (which are not new and have worked with many politicians before) have marketed him very well with the help of HIS celebrity friends and have been pushing a “light weight” candidate that would not only bring the Democratic party to defeat; but to the laughter for the rest of the world. Not even a third world country will gamble with a total inexperience person like that. Finally, he and his followers should not get to defensive when Hillary, Edwards, Biden or else call him on his record( which is slim), and call him about to explain how he will make those changes; but I mean explain well not with sound bites. Is time to Obama to show himself for real and take a real stand and present us what he really believes, talk about his record and not just stick to the script give by his advisors.
Posted by: craig_chicago | December 21, 2007, 1:30 pm 1:30 pm
Obama has the best people in foreign policy behind him. Zbrinski, for one, and Samantha Powers, for another. I am more concerned about where he stands re: economic issues. I like what Edwards has to offer domestically, but I think Obama would make a stronger candidate against McCain, who might actually be the Republican candidate come election time.
Posted by: pontifiKate | December 21, 2007, 2:58 pm 2:58 pm
I wonder if Obama would have voted against the war if he were in the Senate in 2003. Maybe “Present”?
Posted by: epsa | December 22, 2007, 3:06 am 3:06 am
Obama has the most brilliant, well thought out foreign policy agenda of all of the candidates on either side – please go to BarackObama.com and look up the speech he gave at the Wilson Center – it takes my breath away how smart this man is. The thought that the American people might actually get it right this time is almost too good for me to have faith in, yet I am working as hard as I can, with whatever time I have left after working at my job, to help to make that happen. Please America – go for the possible – take our government back – it belongs to us – how they have been able to convince us otherwise is amazing. We have been like lemmings – going along as they take away our freedoms and take our hard earned tax money and spend it on wars we don’t believe in and policies we don’t agree with.I know a lot of you still believe it will be taking a chance to vote for Obama – they have done a great job of convincing you of that since there is nothing in his life or experience they can point to and say “There! That’s why you should not vote for him” Trust me – he has the best life experience of any of the candidates to lead this country out of the darkness and back into the light – first black editor of the Harvard Law Review – instead of going for the millions he could have made after that he went back to Chicago as a $13,000 a year community organizer where he helped neighborhoods tackle the mundane problems that the least of us face on a day to day basis and noone ever seems to give a damn about. He taught constitutional law so he reveres the document this country was founded on and which has been shattered to pieces under this administration. He passed important legislation in the Illinois senate working across party lines to get reforms that noone ever thought were possible. As a US Senator he has passed reforms so that congress cannot fly on corporate jets or accept meals etc. – again something that noone thought would ever happen.
He is a moral family man who adores his wife and his daughters and wants to make sure his children and all children have a quality education so they can compete in this global world economy.
As Oprah said so elequently “He is the one”
Posted by: Jayne Chapman - Boca Raton, Florida | December 26, 2007, 11:53 am 11:53 am
Obama wouldn’t have voted against the war in 2003 for the simple reason that the war vote was in October 2002.
Nearly 60% of the Democrats in Congress (147 of 258 members of the House and Senate) voted against the AUMF.
Posted by: Darrel Plant | February 19, 2008, 2:25 am 2:25 am