Silly season
The Dem presidential candidates briefly mentioned Pakistan at tonight’s debate. Obama reiterated that backing Musharraf has been a colossal mistake:
Obama: [About a U.S. soldier he spoke with] They were capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier for them to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander-in-chief…
On the question of Pakistan… we just had an election there… we have put all our eggs in the Musharraf basket, that was a mistake. We should be going after Al Qaeda… and making sure Pakistan is serious about expanding democracy. And I was right about that.
Not only have we been diverted from Afghanistan, we’ve been diverted from focusing on Latin America. Our entire foreign aid to Latin America is approximately $2.7 billion, what we spend in Iraq in a week.
Clinton: We have opportunities… I hope, with President Musharraf, for him to do the right thing.
Clinton was booed for calling Obama ‘change you can Xerox.’ Obama’s comeback: ‘This is gettin’ into silly season in politics.’ But I know the question you’re asking is, did Clinton tear up at the end?
Yes! Gooool!
on Thursday, February 21st, 2008, 9:51 pm in Barack Obama, Debate, Musharraf, Pakistan, Politics › 
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Why is “change you can Xerox” a bad thing? I mean, it’s a way to distribute the change to more people without a large overhead. What is it, ten cents a copy?
Thanks for posting the “Youtube of the Video” ;-) Snark.
Thank goodness Obama isn’t getting his foreign policy advice from Tweedldumb and Tweedldumber at Sepia Mutiny.
But Hillary’s canned soundbite about “change you can Xerox” — she must have been waiting all day to use it — makes the following line from the SAME DEBATE particularly unfortunate:
Oops.
Couple of questions for Obama. Does he support India’s right to strike against terrorist camps in Pakistan. Two, does he fear that it would lead to a nuclear conflict in the subcontinent.
Despite all the claims of “inexperience,” Obama is actively doing what precious few politicians bother doing (besides for painstakingly groomed and staged photo-ops) but really should- LISTENING to his subordinates (soldiers) and constituents, not just simply braying rhetoric and platitudes. Every excellent manager can listen as well as speak and dictate; and after 8yrs of Bush, we desperately need excellent management at the executive level.
Whether or not Obama does anything with that to which he’s listening- QED. But he has my support during the election.
Hillary’s tactics are clearly more standard and dull: negativity, obscure intimidation, and dictating. I dismiss. She played herself.
That is an excellent point and I agree with your comment on good management. If Sen Obama is indeed doing that, that’s remarkable and he should be applauded all the way into office . Do you have any evidence of that or is this your macro-assessment just by the way the campaign is run, loose but yet effectively in tune with the public.
uh oh.
‘we have put all our eggs in the musharraf basket, that was a mistake.’ is this another case of plagiarism? because i’m pretty sure musharraf’s mrs has said this very thing before
Analyze this - a comparison between Barack Obama’s site and that of Hillary Clinton.
I swear… i’ve heard about executive philosophies permeating the implementation at the micro level - but dont let me influence your opinions. Go to the respective web sites and compare for yourself. [Hint: HRC commands you to “SUBMIT” ].
I hesitate to opine on your candidates’ relative merits, [cross-border punditry you know. not a good thing]. Still, as someone who sells and builds relationships for a living, I feel safe commenting that HRC’s web site could do better with a little bit of mellowing down. it seems a bit harsh.
typed something looks like I lost it..
this is definetely silly but I still like the statement change u can xerox..
hillary has experience but made wrong decisions like iraq war..obama has limited experience but yet made right decisions..
sometimes it is good to have a list of bills they both supported or fought against, list of good they did to the people of US, list of bad they did to people of US, list of their true contributions for betterment of common man in US..a more scientific more rational list of things they accomplished during their service year..so that voters are not deciding to vote for them based on their speeches or debates or what their future policies would be when they become presidents..it is also their track record that matters too..and right and wrong decisions they took during their working years..because one small wrong decision like iraq war can change the nation..the economy, the way world looks at u..
Obama nailed Clinton with that “silly season” line.