Obama vs. McCain: Security duel
Posted: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 9:20 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
2008, Security, McCain, Obama
The Los Angeles Times writes, “As he prepares for an extensive trip overseas, Barack Obama delivered a sweeping foreign policy address Tuesday in which he sought to reassure his supporters that he remains committed to ending the war in Iraq.”
VIDEO: Barack Obama and John McCain criticized each other Tuesday in speeches about Iraq. A Hardball panel takes a look at the two candidates' competing views of war.
The
Washington Post notes how the debate shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan yesterday. "After weeks of verbal combat over Iraq, the candidates offered prescriptions for Afghanistan with striking similarities -- though the sniping went on unabated. Both men spoke passionately, not only about military assistance to Afghanistan and Pakistan but also of nonmilitary aid to foster democracy and goodwill in the region. Both spoke broadly of building alliances to combat terrorism, transforming South Asia ‘from a theater for regional rivalries into a commons for regional cooperation,’ as McCain put it."
The New York Times says that McCain’s call for more troops to Afghanistan was a reversal from past statements about the country. “Mr. McCain said that both Iraq and Afghanistan were important battlegrounds and that the United States had the ability to fight in both places as long as it retained the will to do so. But on Tuesday, after saying for months that no additional forces were needed in Afghanistan, Mr. McCain changed course and advocated the deployment of an additional three brigades, or about 15,000 troops.”
MoveOn has announced it’s running another TV ad hitting McCain -- but sans the controversial mother and her baby, Alex. The buy is relatively small ($100,000), and the ad will run on national cable. “In Chicago, in Saint Louis, and Seattle, the American people are demanding a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq,” the ad goes. “In Baghdad and Basra and Tikrit, the Iraqi people and now the Iraqi Prime minister are also demanding a timetable.”
“But John McCain doesn't want a timetable. He'll spend hundreds of billions of dollars more to keep our keep our troops in Iraq for years and years. John McCain. It's time to end the war and move on.”
More on yesterday’s foreign policy duel between Obama and McCain… The Boston Globe’s headline: “Candidates want Afghan buildup.” But how? “Obama wants to draw down most of the 140,000 US troops from Iraq and shift at least 10,000 soldiers to Afghanistan, which he said is the key battleground in the war on terror. McCain, who earlier in the campaign suggested using more NATO and Afghan forces to fight the resurgent Taliban, said for the first time that he would support sending about 15,000 more troops to Afghanistan, while not specifying how many would come from the United States.”
The AP’s Sidoti: “The return of Iraq and Afghanistan to the forefront of the presidential campaign illustrates how both sides increasingly seem to view the race as largely a referendum on Obama, a first-term Illinois senator trying to become the first black president. ... Clearly, the race is on to define the still relatively unknown Obama, and whichever candidate does a better job making his case could well win the White House. Their dueling foreign policy remarks Tuesday underscored as much.”
The New York Post has a graphic outlining the foreign policies of both candidates.
