Fresh doubts over Barack Obama’s foreign policy credentials

[Tellurian]

Fresh doubts over Barack Obama’s foreign policy credentials were expressed on both sides of the Atlantic last night, after it emerged that he had made only one brief official visit to London – and none elsewhere in Western Europe or Latin America.
...

Yesterday they underlined this message by pointing to reports showing that Mr Obama had failed to convene a single policy meeting of the Senate European subcommittee, of which he is chairman. There was also strikingly robust criticism from an independent Washington think-tank about a “disconcerting void” over transatlantic relations in Mr Obama’s foreign policy, as well as from a former British Minister for Europe.

Mr Obama’s advisers say that he has an “intuitive grasp” of world affairs because he spent part of his childhood abroad. “The benefit of my life of having both lived overseas and travelled overseas is, I have a better sense of how they’re thinking and what their society is really like,” Mr Obama said last month.
...

The spokesman said that Mr Obama had held European subcommittee hearings on the nomination of two US ambassadors in the past year when he had been busy with his presidential campaign.

But Steve Clemons, the director of foreign policy at the New American Foundation in Washington, said that such hearings were not the same as convening full meetings on pressing policy issues such as the future of Nato. “Someone who is seeking the presidency should have some facility for the most important anchor in global affairs, which is the transatlantic relationship,” he said. “The major threats in the 21st century are changing but what is not changing is the vital necessity of Europe and the US collaborating in meeting those challenges with Europe, for instance, in the lead on dealing with Iran. This is a very disconcerting void in Obama’s profile.”
...

Denis MacShane, a Minister for Europe in Mr Blair’s Government, said he had been troubled by comments Mr Obama had made on the Middle East peace process and the prospect of military action in Pakistan. He added: “A lot of people are concerned that international policy is not his strongest suit, just as it was not with George Bush in 2000.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3080794.ece

...yes, alot of people are concerned about the lack of Obama's Foreign and Domestic experience; including us!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Thanks for your concern...

but who voted for the IWR, and who didn't? That vote says a lot more about foreign policy savvy than anything else.

[CyberPieHole]

5. Obama wasn't in office to vote for IWR...if he had been he'd voted "PRESENT" as he often does...

Obama is not fit to be a Senator let alone President of the U.S. But thanks for your concern.

[Tellurian]

7. Exactly... and well put!

Thanks! Thats "it" in a nutshell!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. How do you know what he would have done?

I'm not an Obamazoid, still undecided; but Hillary's IWR vote, not to mention her Kyle-Lieberman vote, leave me pretty "concerned" about her Bush-lite foreign policy skills. Irrespective of what others might think of Obama's foreign policy credentials, seems to me her house has way too much glass in it for her to be pitching stones at anybody.

[CyberPieHole]

32. Experience.

Check Obama's voting record and see for yourself...he votes "present" whenever anything controversial comes along. He himself said he does not know how he would have voted for the IWR vote. We know that when he is unsure which way the wind blows he votes "present". I prefer someone take a stand, yes, even the wrong one, than just stand by the wayside and watch history play itself out. Obama is not an agent of change: he only offers "hopes" and "dreams"~~~and no programs to achieve those "goals".

[ClarkUSA]

14. Nah, he was only running for the Senate at a time when 80% of the public favored war

'Nuff said.

[ccpup]

30. um, yeah,

running against Alan Keyes. Quite a bare knuckles politically courageous brawl Obama had there, wasn't it?

[ClarkUSA]

38. At the time he was competing as an underdog in the Democratic primary

He took a principled, courageous stand against "a dumb war" unlike your "experienced" girl.

[ccpup]

52. and then later publicly doubted

what he would have done HAD his vote -- you know, like those who were actually sitting Senators and not State Legislators in Illinois? -- mattered.

...

Indeed, reporters asked Mr. Obama about the Democratic presidential ticket throughout the 2004 campaign, because Senators John Kerry and John Edwards had both voted for the Iraq war resolution. In an interview with The New York Times in July 2004, he declined to criticize Mr. Kerry or Mr. Edwards over the Iraq vote, but also said that he would not have voted as they had based on the information he had at the time.

''But, I'm not privy to the Senate intelligence reports,'' Mr. Obama said. ''What would I have done? I don't know. What I know is that from my vantage point the case was not made.''

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E0DA1430F931A15750C0A9619C8B63

Yep, you read it right: "What would I have done? I don't know."

[ClarkUSA]

67. That's an old red Hillaryworld herring... he tried to save Kerry/Edwards' face in an election year.

And everyone knows it. Try again to distract from your girl's amoral IWR vote.

[ccpup]

68. wait a minute

you admit to Obama being politically expedient during an Election Year? What's to say he isn't doing so now? So, which is the truth here: what he said in his stirring speech or what he said to the reporters in 2004 (followed by votes that continued funding the war)?

And, as for Hillary's IWR vote, I challenge you to find where I said I either support it or agree with it. I didn't and I don't.

But I also believe to judge a Candidate over one vote -- albeit a huge one -- and one vote alone is the height of shortsighted stupidity. I just believe she's better prepared to handle the immense responsibility of President over a man with a fledgling Senate career, foreign policy experience earned only when he was a child (???????) and an aura that, for me, at least, reeks of Ambitious Youngster.

One can have a different choice as a candidate than you, but not be an enemy nor be treated like one.

[earthlover]

62. Obama SPOKE OUT against the war WHEN IT WAS UNPOPULAR position!

That is not exactly standing on the side-lines. So, on this issue, Obama and Hillary both have a contrasting record.

Hillary fans want us to forget Hillary's record with regard to IWR....

Obama will do just fine foreign policy wise. Kennedy did just fine, and he wasn't exactly experienced either going into the election.

Give Obama a VP like Wes Clark, and victory will be ours!

[JackORoses]

64. except that he gave a speech 9 days before the IWR vote publicly opposing the War.

put that in your piehole and smoke it!

[ccpup]

9. even Obama himself

expressed doubts as to how he would have voted for the IWR had he actually been privy to the information the Senators who actually had to make that choice had.

Besides making a stirring speech from the floor of the Illinois State Assembly chambers is a walk in the park. It's more informative and enlightening to take a look at the choices he's made when faced with continuing to fund the war, which he's chosen to do -- lock-step with Clinton -- ever since being sworn in in 2005.

Just sayin' ...

[AtomicKitten]

18. That's nonsense. Obama was running for the Senate in 2002 when he came out against the war.

Loud and in public. Perhaps you missed it?

Remarks of Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama Against Going to War with Iraq October 2, 2002

October 2, 2002

Good afternoon. Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti-war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union, and drive the scourge of slavery from our soil. I don't oppose all wars.

My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton's army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not fight in vain. I don't oppose all wars.

After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again. I don't oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism.

What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income - to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear - I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the President today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings. You want a fight, President Bush?

Let's fight to make sure that the UN inspectors can do their work, and that we vigorously enforce a non-proliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons already in their possession, and that the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across the globe. You want a fight, President Bush?

Let's fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil, through an energy policy that doesn't simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil. Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair.

The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not -- we will not -- travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.

http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php

[ccpup]

28. was this before or after

Mr. 20% Alan Keyes entered the race as Obama's "opponent"?

[AtomicKitten]

35. And that is relevant because what exactly?

Oh, that's right. It's not.

You and yours can continue to try to marginalize Obama's good sense on these issues all you want, but that strategy is tantamount to pulling fake flowers out of your sleeve and calling it a magic trick.

Obama's good sense in these matters resonates and will prevail because voters understand that if signing on to GOP war schemes vis a vis YES votes on the IWR and K-L is construed as experience, that's precisely the kind of experience America needs like a hole in the head.

Obama has the upper hand on this issue no matter how hard you try to back over it.

[ccpup]

49. good sense?

um, okay. If you call continued voting to fund the war "good sense". Or missing important votes on Iran "good sense". Or missing nearly 80% of the Senate's votes due to campaigning and fund raising "good sense". Or the political courage it takes to vote Present "good sense".

Then, sure, all that considered, Obama is practically past the point of constipation with "good sense".

Good luck with your candidate. :hi:

[Tellurian]

60. I Love hearing Obama say he opposes, "dumb wars"..

when have we ever had a "smart war"?

All we've ever had are dumb wars and elected "dumber politicians who dislike dumb wars".

[ccpup]

61. better than hearing Obama say this:

''What would I have done? I don't know" when asked in 2004 about the votes of Nominees Kerry and Edwards for the IWR.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E0DA1430F931A15750C0A9619C8B63

don't tell me the media and the repuglicans AREN'T gonna make hay outta this if Obama's the nominee. And after all that time he's spent selling himself as a man of political courage and change and hope.

[Tellurian]

75. Every word and phrase Obama's been pumping out on the stump..

will be chewed up, twisted, contorted, digested and regurgitated into a slamming Tsunami against him.. Obama is easy fodder for Republican attacks.

[ccpup]

76. you're right

with Hillary, the Public -- having endured the 1990s Slam Machine against her -- will be, in effect, inoculated to whatever "scandals" they dig up and try to resurrect. More "been there, done that" than anything else.

With Obama though? Oh, nothing more fun than to strip away, scandal by salacious scandal, the choir boy image and Candidate of Hope and Change. And not being wise to the ways of the National Press -- don't trust them, Obama, no matter HOW many covers they give you now! --, he'll feel sucker punched and by the time he's regrouped and is ready to strike back, it's too late.

We won't have that learning curve with Hillary. She knows the score and has won the game before.

[Nailzberg]

50. About two years before Keyes.

Keyes didn't get in it until about Aug 2004.

[earthlover]

63. Obama expressed doubts but Hillary sure as hell didn't have any doubts!

She voted for the IWR, and she didn't even put the energy into reading the intelligence reports! Why Hillary Can't Read....

[MethuenProgressive]

2. Foreigners are worried about Obama's lack of foreign policy experience too?

Interesting. Thanks for the link & post.

[AtomicKitten]

3. Obama had the good sense to oppose the IWR and K-L.

That speaks volumes.

[MethuenProgressive]

6. He never made a single public statement about Kyl/Lieberman until after he missed the vote.

And he wasn't in the Senate at the time of the IWR. Your comparisions, albeit popular with Obama supporters, mean little.

[AtomicKitten]

12. and yet that STILL beats the hell out of voting YES on them

[MethuenProgressive]

29. Yeah.. not being able to vote on one, and skipping the other is ... "better"...

Good luck to your candidate!

[CyberPieHole]

40. Obama's failure to vote on Kyl-Lieberman should not be used against him...

We need a candidate who makes himself "unavailable" and who votes "present" instead of "yea" or "nay". Repugs won't call Obama on it. No, they would be silly to latch onto his voting record for attack material. Obama's voting record is off limits.:evilgrin:

[ccpup]

65. hear, hear!

it's not like his private campaign jet couldn't have gotten him to DC in 1 hour and 44 minutes in time for the vote, right?

Funny how Clinton made it, though. I guess one of them actually understands their constituents expect their Senator to, you know, show up and vote and stuff.

[CyberPieHole]

70. "vote and stuff"?

Senators don't have to vote and do "stuff" do they?:evilgrin:

[ccpup]

73. not if you're Obama

being Senator for a couple years is only one audacious rung in the child-size ladder to the Presidency.

I mean, really, Constituents? What are Constituents? Oh, those! That's what they call them. Yeah, yeah, of course I remember them. What? Oh. They don't expect me to actually keep any of the promises I made to get elected, do they? What? I can't hear you.

Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you over the roar of the engine of my private campaign jet -- yeah, yeah, the one that couldn't get me to DC for that Iran-whatever vote on time (wink, wink) -- getting ready to take me to another fund raiser before I have to go and attempt to make one more JFK-like speech which sounds pretty but has little to it.

Ah, you know how it is: The voters that don't know better eat this inspirational Kumbahya shit right up.

:evilgrin:

[MNDemNY]

34. No, it is not. It is an indication of cowardice.

[AtomicKitten]

45. YES votes for war and more war for political expediency is cowardice.

Get that part straight.

[MNDemNY]

48. BHO's many votes to cut the funding and end the war pretty much seal the deal?

[ccpup]

66. unless one is trying to sell Political Courage

as a major Character Trait and reason to vote for him.

[MNDemNY]

33. Show me again his VOTE on K-L.

I must have missed it.

[journalist3072]

41. Then why the hell didn't he show up for the vote? He has no moral authority on Kyle-Lierbman, since

he was too cowardly to even vote yes or no.

[CyberPieHole]

46. STOP attacking Obama with facts...no fair...

facts are inconsequential when you are being presented with "hope" and "dreams".:evilgrin:

[journalist3072]

58. ROFL!!!! So true indeed. eom

[CyberPieHole]

4. LOL...for a second there I thought your post read: "Fresh DONUTS over Barack Obama's..."

I must be getting hungry...


What "policy credentials" does Obama have? None, IMO.

:kick: and recommend

[jenmito]

19. If you REALLY want to know his "policy credentials," read this:

http://usforeignpolicy.about.com/od/2008presidentialrace/p/bobama.htm

[babylonsister]

51. Jen, you know they don't 'really' want to know anything, so you're

wasting your keystrokes. Bashing is all they know. But thanks for trying. :hi:

[jenmito]

78. You're clearly right. I've posted many times things that refute what posters say

and they just ignore those posts. That's including both reasons to vote FOR Obama and reasons not to vote for Hillary. No problemo! :hi:

[Carrieyazel]

10. FRESH doubts? He has no foreign policy experience to speak of,

so the doubts have been there since he first announced.

[Tellurian]

15. A few excerpts from Joe Wilson describing the extent of Obama's Foreign Policy experience

quoted from Joe Wilson:

“Barack Obama attended elementary school in Indonesia before the age of 10, his chief period of time abroad. I, too, spent years overseas in my formative school years. While the experience certainly whetted my appetite for international relations, it did not provide me either with “intuition” or expertise in the conduct of my nation’s foreign policy. My understanding of international affairs came from twenty-three years of professional diplomacy, much of it spent overseas dealing at senior levels on crises such as serving as the acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq stationed in Baghdad during the first Gulf War.”

—
Now, Senator Obama echoes and reflects the same attitude of contempt for “on the ground experience.” Acting on his superior “intuition” he has proposed unilateral bombing of Pakistan and unstructured summits without preconditions with adversaries such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il. As we have learned, the march of folly is paved with good but naïve intentions.

A number of us, like then Illinois state senator Obama, opposed the second Gulf War. My own opposition from the beginning has been well documented. I fought the fight in the arena itself, Washington DC, against a ruthless administration and its supporters while the senator’s opposition came from a far distance and carried no risk, given that he represented in Springfield, Illinois the district encompassing the University of Chicago. As an obscure but safe provincial political figure, he never was granted access to the distorted intelligence that was used to drive the Congress and the media. When I looked to the left or to the right for support, I never saw the state senator.

In fact, I never heard of Barack Obama until he announced his intention to run for the Senate

[saskatoon]

22. Think on this folks.

We have a whole lotta real smart politicians that know everything from a to z re sounding good and doing things that look good. How about giving this guy a chance. George w. Bush comes from a long line of politicians and supposedly savvy as hell about World Affairs---you name it
He and Cheney are rite on top of EVERYTHING.
Give Obama a chance will you. I know he is not "seasoned" but remember Bush and Cheney and that whole bunch of crooks sure are and look what we have ended up with. Thanks for thinking on this. Grace Stevenson 90 years old on jan 7 2008

[maximusveritas]

11. Who is MacShane to talk about international policy?

This is a guy who supported the War in Iraq, who cheered on the coup attempt on Chavez, and is a member of the neocon Henry Jackson Society that wants to spread democracy around the world with force.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. And isn't the Times a Murdoch paper?

[Tellurian]

20. Actually, you would think McShane would support Obama

but even he realizes Obama is in over his head!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_MacShane

[maximusveritas]

23. No evidence for your assertions, as usual

That link just confirms what I said.
I'm sure he supports Hillary.

[Tellurian]

55. The link confirms McShane recognizes the fatal void

in Obama's Foreign Policy experience. McShane's Jackson philosophy mirrors Obama comments about bombing Pakistan going after rouge dictators and terrorists if necessary with military action.

Get a grip, McShane recognizes Obama is inept and a phony!

[jefferson_dem]

16. "Fresh doubts"? Uh huh... dusting off a week-old perspective piece on Obama...

that rehashes everything we already know.

Not. Too. Fresh.

[Tellurian]

24. It isn't a poll..so what the problem?

Are you saying Obama has learned enough in the last week to change the status of his lack of knowledge of foreign policy in any way?

[MNDemNY]

36. They've already addressed this. It has been

filed in the ATTACK!! column, cross referenced with racist,European.

[BeyondGeography]

17. More like stale doubts...this article is five days old

making it nearly a week since Bill got his Iraq-war lovin' buddies in the UK to act "concerned" about Obama.

[Donna Zen]

25. Ah...we've got a winner

"I'll take surrogate war-mongers for $700 billion Alex"

Yes, that is exactly what's going on.

[I was just saying...]

81. Ah, yes, but is it any less truthful?

Give me a break. How many people do you think saw that story the first
time around. In the print world this TRUE story is fresh out of the oven.

And you DO WANT THE TRUTH OUT I presume?

Obama is a calculating coward. When he can't pull the trigger,
i.e., voting on the Iran resolution (he is conveniently campaigning
in NH, even though he was present on the Senate floor hours before).

Better to vet him now than to have all that 'kumbaya' hope stuff later on.

[mtnsnake]

21. How's he supposed to take part in all those important Senate votes if he's always overseas?

:shrug:

[zulchzulu]

26. LOOK HERE: Obama's foreign policy experience and list of foreign policy advisors

People may wonder where Barack Obama has traveled abroad since he's been senator on official business with the Foreign Relations Committee. Here's a list:

2005
Moscow
Kiev
Baku
Azerbaijan

2006
Qatar
Kuwait
Iraq
Jordan
Israel
South Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kenya
Djibouti
Chad

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002595.php

Bill and Hillary Clinton have chided Obama on his lack of traveling abroad, although this list by far outdoes what countries Bill had been to before getting elected in 1992.

Here is a list of some of those who worked with Bill Clinton who are now on Barack Obama's team:

For counterinsurgency strategy, Mr. Obama has Harvard University's Sarah Sewall, who worked in the Pentagon under President Clinton. Mr. Obama has Harvard University's Sarah Sewall, who worked in the Pentagon under President Clinton.

For overall security issues he leans on Mr. Clinton's former national security adviser, Anthony Lake.

What about fighting AIDS or boosting U.S. trade in Africa? For that and more, he has former Clinton administration diplomat Susan Rice.

(snip)

Mr. Ivo Daalder, who worked in the Clinton White House in the mid-1990s and is now at the Brookings Institution, describes the difference between Sens. Clinton and Obama as "the difference between what do we do about Iran and its nuclear program now versus how do we deal with nuclear proliferation writ large."

(snip)

Mr. Obama did get a well-timed boost recently from one of his party's foreign-policy eminences, Zbigniew Brzezinski. The 79-year-old former Carter national security adviser not only backed Mr. Obama but panned Mrs. Clinton's views as "very conventional" and merely a continuation of "what we had eight years ago."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118895877299317784.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Here is a list of advisors on his campaign team and description (some are mentioned above):

Former Amb. Jeffrey Bader, President Clinton’s National Security Council Asia specialist and now head of Brookings’s China center, national security adviser

Mark Brzezinski, President Clinton’s National Security Council Southeast Europe specialist and now a partner at law firm McGuireWoods, national security adviser

Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s national security adviser and now a Center for Strategic and International Studies counselor and trustee and frequent guest on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, foreign policy adviser

Richard A. Clarke, President Clinton and President George W. Bush’s counterterrorism czar and now head of Good Harbor Consulting and an ABC News contributor, sometimes Obama adviser

Gregory B. Craig, State Department director of policy planning under President Clinton and now a partner at law firm Williams & Connolly, foreign policy adviser

Roger W. Cressey, former National Security Council counterterrorism staffer and now Good Harbor Consulting president and NBC News consultant, has advised Obama but says not exclusive

Ivo H. Daalder, National Security Council director for European affairs during President Clinton’s administration and now a Brookings senior fellow, foreign policy adviser

Richard Danzig, President Clinton’s Navy secretary and now a Center for Strategic and International Analysis fellow, national security adviser

Philip H. Gordon, President Clinton’s National Security Council staffer for Europe and now a Brookings senior fellow, national security adviser

Maj. Gen. J. (Jonathan) Scott Gration, a 32-year Air Force veteran and now CEO of Africa anti-poverty effort Millennium Villages, national security adviser and surrogate

Lawrence J. Korb, assistant secretary of defense from 1981-1985 and now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, informal foreign policy adviser

W. Anthony Lake, President Clinton’s national security adviser and now a professor at Georgetown’s school of foreign service, foreign policy adviser

James M. Ludes, former defense and foreign policy adviser to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and now executive director of the American Security Project, national security adviser

Robert Malley, President Clinton’s Middle East envoy and now International Crisis Group’s Middle East and North Africa program director, national security adviser

Gen. Merrill A. ("Tony") McPeak, former Air Force chief of staff and now a business consultant, national security adviser

Denis McDonough, Center for American Progress senior fellow and former policy adviser to then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, foreign policy coordinator

Samantha Power, Harvard-based human rights scholar and Pulitzer Prize winning writer, foreign policy adviser

Susan E. Rice, President Clinton’s Africa specialist at the State Department and National Security Council and now a Brookings senior fellow, foreign policy adviser

Bruce O. Riedel, former CIA officer and National Security Council staffer for Near East and Asian affairs and now a Brookings senior fellow, national security adviser

Dennis B. Ross, President Clinton’s Middle East negotiator and now a Washington Institute for Near East Policy fellow, Middle East adviser

Sarah Sewall, deputy assistant secretary of defense for peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance during President Clinton’s administration and now director of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, national security adviser

Daniel B. Shapiro, National Security Council director for legislative affairs during President Clinton’s administration and now a lobbyist with Timmons & Company, Middle East adviser

Mona Sutphen, former aide to President Clinton’s National Security adviser Samuel R. Berger and to United Nations ambassador Bill Richardson and now managing director of business consultancy Stonebridge, national security adviser

[AtomicKitten]

27. whooooops ... there is it

:hi:

[MethuenProgressive]

31. So if you vote for Obama - you get Bill Clinton's staff? Where's the "change"?

Kudos to the inexperienced junior senator for hiring experienecd people.
But you can't purchase experience.

[jenmito]

37. And you can't marry it, either...not to mention when BILL became president

he had less experience than Obama and Hillary seemed fine with it THEN.

[AtomicKitten]

39. Obama attracted the anti-war ones and left Hillary with the PNAC-enablers.

[BeyondGeography]

42. You get the advisers who were smart enough to oppose IWR and the war

she has the hawks backing her.

Pay attention for a change, will you?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/opinion/23rich.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[BeyondGeography]

43. Dupe

[zulchzulu]

69. Foreign policy experience without security clearance, no NSA creds, no access to PDBs?

The foreign policy "experience" Hillary cackles about is a shell of what she brags about.

If talented people like Richard Clarke give a pass on Hillary to go with Obama, I say there is something there that is pretty evident. They're tired of her loudmouth horseshit.

[Tellurian]

47. Obama has NEVER held a full meeting of the Foreign Relations Committee..

He is the Chairman and within a year, he's never held a meeting and was criticized for his negligence.

From the OP:

"But Steve Clemons, the director of foreign policy at the New American Foundation in Washington, said that such hearings were not the same as convening full meetings on pressing policy issues such as the future of Nato. “Someone who is seeking the presidency should have some facility for the most important anchor in global affairs, which is the transatlantic relationship,” he said. “The major threats in the 21st century are changing but what is not changing is the vital necessity of Europe and the US collaborating in meeting those challenges with Europe, for instance, in the lead on dealing with Iran. This is a very disconcerting void in Obama’s profile.”

And your list of Foreign Policy Advisers are comprised mainly of Clinton rejects!

[zulchzulu]

71. Is Richard Clarke a "Clinton reject"?

:rofl:

Obama's list of advisors are sterling, top drawer and also smart enough to read intel reports and call Bush's plans bullshit. Hillary can have the PNAC crowd to fulfill her bloodthirsty fantasies of killing innocent people for a couple votes and chance to cackle.

[Tellurian]

77. Wasn't it Obama that said he wanted to bomb Pakistan?

:rofl: Your guy is so out of step with Foreign Policy and White House protocols; he could at least READ a little bit and get himself up to speed for the office he's running for.

[jenmito]

79. No. He said he'd strike within Pakistan only as a last resort-if they didn't cooperate

after all diplomacy failed (unlike Bush who didn't take diplomacy seriously) to get bin Laden and other high value targets.

[MethuenProgressive]

44. The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Europe- has never been there!

"despite serving as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Europe, Barack Obama has not been there"
From an Obama supporter's link: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002595.php
:rofl:

[zulchzulu]

72. Is the Ukraine in Europe?

Yunno, the country that's in Europe that uses the Euso as currency? That Ukraine? I bet you don't even know where it is on a map.

[MethuenProgressive]

74. "Yunno, the country that's in Europe that uses the Euso as currency?"

:rofl: So England isn't in Europe, according to ObamaNation, because they don't use the "Euso"?

[Skidmore]

53. You have yet to tell me about that Hillaryis44 website.

I asked you about it several days ago? I can find no information on it as to who owns it and who sponsors it.

[William769]

56. Why should this person.

If you can't find it out on your own, why should they help you?

If your really that interested I bet you could find the information instead of harassing a fellow DUer over nonsense.

[William769]

54. Come on now!

He lived abroad when he was a kid and he has the cow lady as a supporter. How much more does he need?

[Tellurian]

59. I think..

She's a sculptress who sculptured a cow out of butter..

But who can forget this lady..Susan Klopfer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXPnMflGkvI

I wonder if Obama will tell her, her roots need attention...

[ginchinchili]

57. Surprise, surprise, but then I'm not impressed w/Hillary's either.

Joe Biden is the best prepared candidate to take over the presidency by far. More and more people are waking up to that fact. I just hope it's not too late for us.

[Beacool]

80. Which foreign policy credentials????

I thought that he had none. Oh yeah, he lived in Indonesia from ages 6 to 10......