Obama Lost a Chance at My Vote Today...

[jonny]

Claiming the soldiers lives lost in Iraq were wasted...pathetic. Critisize the president or critisize how the war has been run, but to claim that the lives of those who fought were lives wasted is the most pathetic opinion I've ever heard stated by a politician.

I went into this campaign with an open mind. This is enough for me to know that I DO NOT want this man to be the Commander in Chief of our military. I already felt like he didn't have the experience. Now I know he doesn't have the intelligence or leadership necessary for the position.

 

[opensoul7]

I am shocked and sad if that is what he said I could not disagree with him more. Those that have died , died doing what was asked from them , serving with honor. I that is true Obama lost my vote as well .

 

[jonny]

I am shocked and sad if that is what he said I could not disagree with him more. Those that have died , died doing what was asked from them , serving with honor. I that is true Obama lost my vote as well .

Here is what he said:

"We ended up launching a war that should have never been authorized, and should have never been waged, and on which we've now spent $400 billion, and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted."

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007702120332

Absolutely pathetic. What's just as pathetic is that the comments envoked an applause from the people listening. Is this what Americans want to hear? If it is, I'm embarassed to be an American.

 

[YmirGF]

Claiming the soldiers lives lost in Iraq were wasted...pathetic. Critisize the president or critisize how the war has been run, but to claim that the lives of those who fought were lives wasted is the most pathetic opinion I've ever heard stated by a politician.

I went into this campaign with an open mind. This is enough for me to know that I DO NOT want this man to be the Commander in Chief of our military. I already felt like he didn't have the experience. Now I know he doesn't have the intelligence or leadership necessary for the position.

Get used to it Jonny, wait till they really get down to the wire. The insurgents must be wetting themselves with laughter and giggling at the thought of Obama as President. :run:

 

[jonny]

Get used to it Jonny, wait till they really get down to the wire. The insurgents must be wetting themselves with laughter and giggling at the thought of Obama as President.

He won't win the nomination with rhetoric like this. There are much more reasonable candidates out there who will appeal to a broader range of people. I really hope that Clark or Richardson wins the democratic nomination. Biden might also be a good choice.

 

[opensoul7]

Thanks for the link jonny ,
he lost my vote . And the bottom of the article was sad as he tried to pull his foot out of his mouth.

 

[jonny]

Thanks for the link jonny ,
he lost my vote . And the bottom of the article was sad as he tried to pull his foot out of his mouth.

Yeah. I saw that. My opinion with apologies like that are that what they really believe is the first thing that comes out of their mouth and the apology is simply an, "oh, crap! That opinion makes me look bad!" His explanation had absolutely nothing to do with what he actually said other than that it was about soldiers and Iraq. Perhaps in Chicago the definition of "wasted" is "have not been honored by the same attention to strategy, diplomacy and honesty on the part of civilian leadership that would give them a clear mission," but not where I come from.

 

[YmirGF]

Perhaps in Chicago the definition of "wasted" is "have not been honored by the same attention to strategy, diplomacy and honesty on the part of civilian leadership that would give them a clear mission," but not where I come from.

Personally, I love how people look to these candidates as actually having viable answers. It's not as if they are experts. I did get a shiver this afternoon when I envisioned the Dems going for a Clinton/Obama ticket. Yoikes. Talk about contributing to global warming... what with all their CO2 emissions. Heck I bet CO2 emissions could be reduced simply by demanding that people think long and hard before offering their esteemed opinions.

 

[s2a]

Claiming the soldiers lives lost in Iraq were wasted...pathetic. Critisize the president or critisize how the war has been run, but to claim that the lives of those who fought were lives wasted is the most pathetic opinion I've ever heard stated by a politician.

Time to bone up on some history then. You're still young...and you have the time ...

I went into this campaign with an open mind. This is enough for me to know that I DO NOT want this man to be the Commander in Chief of our military. I already felt like he didn't have the experience. Now I know he doesn't have the intelligence or leadership necessary for the position.

I know that our current President "doesn't have the intelligence or leadership necessary for the position". And that's not borne of any negative conjecture, but of relevant and estimable fact.

Obama doesn't have any sort of a lock for my vote (I'm a proponent of Wesley Clark myself), but he's certainly no less qualified than our current "incompentent-in-chief" was at the beginning of his term in office.

I'm old enough to both personally account and accurately recall the lessons of the US entanglement in Vietnam, and while I continue to honor the duty and service of veterans that engaged combat in Vietnam (many of which I see amongst the homeless today), I can unequivocally state (in the clearest vision of 20-20 hindsight) that the lives of the soldiers that perished in that conflict...were indeed "wasted" in that vainglorious effort.

Don't believe me...ask almost any Vietnam veteran what they think...

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
--Teddy Roosevelt, Republican President (1918)

Hoo-rah.

 

[ALifetimeToWaitFor....]

i dont know what you think, but from the stand point that the war was wrong to begin with. the word "wasted" simply means that they didn't need to die in this "pointless" struggle to begin with. They were better men than the death our leaders demanded of them.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The insurgents must be wetting themselves with laughter and giggling at the thought of Obama as President. :run:

I bet they laugh harder at the idea of Hilary as President.

 

[Radio Frequency X]

Claiming the soldiers lives lost in Iraq were wasted...pathetic. Critisize the president or critisize how the war has been run, but to claim that the lives of those who fought were lives wasted is the most pathetic opinion I've ever heard stated by a politician.

I went into this campaign with an open mind. This is enough for me to know that I DO NOT want this man to be the Commander in Chief of our military. I already felt like he didn't have the experience. Now I know he doesn't have the intelligence or leadership necessary for the position.

Both Obama and Edwards are way to the Left. I would argue that both are to the Left of John Kerry and Al Gore, and neither of them have the experience or governing experience of Kerry or Gore. For this reason, I believe that they are going to get creamed by Bill Richardson*, Mark Warner*, or Hillary Clinton. Hillary is a populist Democrat - which means that while she is a liberal, she takes the polls seriously. Her husband was the same way. When President Clinton saw that a majority of the voters wanted to see the Welfare system reigned in, he did it. Even though it angered the left. He worked with Newt Gingrich on a number of issues, even while Gingrich and the Republicans were trying to impeach him. Why? Because his approach to governing is purely democratic. I think Hillary is the same way.

Obama and Edwards both want to raise taxes. When was the last person we elected who promised to raise taxes? Both Obama and Edwards have promised Universal Health Care, which a large number of Americans are against. Both Obama and Edwards have promised to surrender in Iraq. While this may be popular amongst independents and liberals, their complete absence of a plan to deal with the reality of terrorism is going to get them killed when they go up against a Republican in the final election.

* If they decide to run.

 

[PureX]

Claiming the soldiers lives lost in Iraq were wasted...pathetic. Critisize the president or critisize how the war has been run, but to claim that the lives of those who fought were lives wasted is the most pathetic opinion I've ever heard stated by a politician.

I went into this campaign with an open mind. This is enough for me to know that I DO NOT want this man to be the Commander in Chief of our military. I already felt like he didn't have the experience. Now I know he doesn't have the intelligence or leadership necessary for the position.

Well, if the war was wrong, and unnecessary, how do you justify the lives that have been lost in it?

And anyway, do you really think you were maybe going to vote for Obama? I doubt that you were ever going to vote for him, and in fact I think you're just looking for reasons to demonize him.

 

[RevOxley_501]

are the lives that are being lost worth being lost? maybe that is what he was saying...he isnt saying there lives and deaths arent worthwile, they just arent worth the positives of this war...

 

[jonny]

i dont know what you think, but from the stand point that the war was wrong to begin with. the word "wasted" simply means that they didn't need to die in this "pointless" struggle to begin with. They were better men than the death our leaders demanded of them.

When this war started most Americans supported it. Yes, the support is lower now than it was at the beginning, but that is a reflection of our leadership - not the war that is being fought. The war was not pointless & their lives were not wasted. They will be wasted if we elect someone who isn't committed to honoring their lives by finishing the fight.

Now, how do you think that Obama's "wasted" platform is going to sit with the families of those "wasted lives"? Even if he believes that, he's got to be a moron with extremely poor judgment to come out and say it.

 

[jonny]

Well, if the war was wrong, and unnecessary, how do you justify the lives that have been lost in it?

I didn't believe the war was wrong when we went into it and I believe there has been a lot of good that has come out of it. I believe that the war has been poorly managed in the past few years, but I'm not going to say that equates to wasting Americans lives.

And anyway, do you really think you were maybe going to vote for Obama? I doubt that you were ever going to vote for him, and in fact I think you're just looking for reasons to demonize him.

I was considering him. I hadn't ruled out any political candidates except for Kucinich, but the person who I vote for is going to have to earn my vote. I'm not a slave to political parties.

 

[jonny]

are the lives that are being lost worth being lost? maybe that is what he was saying...he isnt saying there lives and deaths arent worthwile, they just arent worth the positives of this war...

I don't know if they are "worth being lost" but I know that you don't honor their loss by standing in front of their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, family, teachers, etc and telling them that America wasted their lives.

 

[PureX]

First of all, what's going on in Iraq is not a war. It's an occupation. The reason we can't win there is because it's impossible to "win" an occupation. All that can happen in an occupation is that you successfully occupy someone else's country until you decide not to occupy it, anymore.

If it were a war, we could destroy the people and the structures until they agree to surrender on a given set of terms, and if they don't follow those terms we can cause more destruction, still, until they do. But what's going on in Iraq is not a war, it's an occupation, so there really never was any way for us to "win". Our only options were to keep occupying the place, or to leave. We never had any other options, there, because it was never a war.

The Bush administration lied when they called their occupation of Iraq a war, and now it's becoming aparent to all americans that it was never really a war to begin with, and that's why there is no way of "winning" it, now. All that's left to decide is when to leave, or to stay there indefinately. And we can't afford to stay there indefinately.

Nothing of value was gained by this occupation. Iraq is certainly not better off for it. We are certainly not better off for it. The whole middle east is less stable because of it, and may become far less stable, still. And the longer we stay there, the more problematic it's going to become. Bush really made a huge mess of this, and there is now not only no way of winning, but there isn't even a good way of getting out. And not only did our soldiers die for nothing, they died as the result of George Bush's idiocy, and with the result of a looming major disaster that we can't avoid.

The outrage you feel at the idea that those soldiers died for nothing should be aimed at the man who made that happen, not at the man who has the courage to finally say it out loud.

 

[MaddLlama]

I didn't believe the war was wrong when we went into it and I believe there has been a lot of good that has come out of it. I believe that the war has been poorly managed in the past few years, but I'm not going to say that equates to wasting Americans lives.

What kind of good?

If Bush can't stand in front of all of the relatives and loved ones of the soldiers who died in the war and explain to them exactly what they died for (and I mean, what specifically we've accomplished, not some silly rhetoric about how we are "protecting America from terrorists", because, they're not), then I don't see why people should be so upset when someone takes the opposite position.

What instance of greater good have we accomplished in the war that makes the death of 3,000 worthwhile? We killed Saddam? Yeah, and the Iraqi people are just so thrilled about that. So, if a parent asked you what her son died for in the war, what would you tell her?

Personally, I am inclied to agree with Obama - we have essentially accomplished nothing, so what did all those soliders die for? I can't think of a worthwhile reason. If we actually had competent leadership, we wouldn't be in this mess, and all of those soliders wouldn't have had to die.

 

[jacquie4000]

The outrage you feel at the idea that those soldiers died for nothing should be aimed at the man who made that happen, not at the man who has the courage to finally say it out loud.

:clap

This war has been long and drug on for far to long.

Jonny I think you are taking what the man said way out of context.

I think he honors those who died. You can honor someone and what they have done but still think their death was senseless. I have friends that have died over there. I was in dessert storm. I have no problem with what he said.