Is Experience Obama's Achilles' Heel?
Rivals will be listening carefully to Obama's foreign policy stance at debate.
Aug. 17, 2007 — -- At ABC News' Democratic debate this weekend, people will pay especially close attention to what Sen. Barack Obama has to say on foreign policy matters.
Over the last few weeks, some of his statements have landed him in hot water, attracting intense criticism from his rivals. But the main problem may not be what he's saying, but rather how he says it.
When Obama said he'd chase Osama bin Laden into Pakistan with or without that country's approval, Pakistan protested and his rivals questioned his experience.
"There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President [Pervez] Musharraf won't act, we will," Obama said.
Would those rivals do the same thing? It's certainly possible; they just might not say so publicly.
"A lot of people would agree with a lot of what he's saying. But the way he's saying it comes across as someone who's not quite ready for prime time," said ABC News political correspondent Cokie Roberts.
But the Pakistan flap came on the heels of Obama's promise to sit down with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro.
Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton said of Obama's statements: "I thought it was irresponsible and frankly naive."
Then this week at a New Hampshire forum, Obama seemed to criticize the performance of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying they were "air raiding villages and killing civilians."
"I think there are positions a presidential candidate can take but they have to be taken with precision," said David Gergen, a former adviser to President Clinton. "It's not wise for a candidate to bring a sledgehammer."
Civilian casualties are a huge issue in Afghanistan. Last week at Camp David, Afghan President Hamid Karzai raised the issue directly with President Bush. But presumably Karzai used language that was more diplomatic.
