[spence]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

Is it me, or did Obama just admit that Bush's policies in Iraq are paying dividends in that region? Not that he would ever say it that way...but how can Obama decry the Iraq War when he is speaking at a political fundraiser, and the next day talk about the tangible benefits of that war? Spence?

The pretty obvious answer is that he's the President now.

If the Iraq war leads to a stable and democratic Iraq, nobody is going to argue that's a bad thing. But to simply say this would justify the entire action is a gross over simplification of a very complex equation.

Here is the answer...Obama is politicizing war. He's taking a war in which thousands of the best kids you have ever seen gave their lives, and Obama is contorting his view of that war to maximize his political capital. I think that's vile, putrid, and par for the course with this guy. Either the war accomplished nothing, or it accomplished something significant, but it cannot have done both.

Actually, you're politicizing his speech. You're contorting his defense of our interests, for which thousands of the best kids you have ever seen gave their lives, just to make a silly point on a fishing website.

Obama can't undo the Iraq war. He must make the best with what he inherited and what the situation is today. To assert this is hypocrisy is absurd, Obama has not adopted the Bush Doctrine.

Obama has a responsibility to encourage the foreign behavior believed to be in our best interests. If this means praising pro democracy elements in Iraq at the risk of Right Wing pot shots then it sounds like he's risen above the noise and is focused on meaningful leadership to benefit his constituents.

Call me silly but I find that pretty appealing.

-spence