Critiquing Joe Wilson's Critique of Obama
Actually, most of what Joe Wilson says about Obama is right. But his defense of Hillary's vote of Kyl-Lieberman is wrong. First the part that is right:
. . . During the debate, Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois deleted reference [in K-L] to "military instrumentalities" and added: "Nothing in this Act should be construed as giving the president the authority to use military force against Iran." . . . Senator Barack Obama was absent when the vote on Kyl-Lieberman was taken, though that has not prevented him from criticizing colleagues who participated in the debate and voted for it. He has also opted not to sign the letter to the president. . . . Senator Obama's criticism of the vote and refusal to join with his Democratic colleagues on the letter to the president appear to be based more on the politics than the substance. The entire Senate was notified a day beforehand about the vote on the Kyl-Lieberman resolution. If he truly had a sense of urgency on the issue he should have made a point of participating in the debate and voting, when he would have had the opportunity at the time to air his substantive disagreement with his home state colleague Senator Durbin, rather than waiting to raise the issue afterwards in a purely political context and using it as a campaign tactic.
All very true. But where Wilson is dead wrong is in the belief that there was any positive merit to K-L. The simple fact is the Bush Administration can not be trusted on anything or at any time. These are not normal times where the Congress can work with the President on such issues. The Congress' main job now is to be vigilant and oppose the Bush Administration's belligerent impulses on foreign policy. It needs to make sure no more damage is done. K-L hurt that effort. Clinton was very wrong to vote in its favor.
Geekesque rightly points out that this from Wilson was simply awful:
He has also made clear that for him the paramount enemy is George W. Bush, not an organization that has a history of involvement in terrorism and has been actively targeting American troops in Iraq.
Shame on you Joe Wilson.
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