Obama 2002 TV interview on IWR

How did an unknown Illinois legislator have so much better judgement than the more 'experienced' Washington pols who want us to trust them to know what they're doing now?

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/...

also posted here:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/...

•  I Don't Know

  But a party that could lose, ever, to the opposition they faced and there ideas, with their ostensible priorities, obviously was not full of bright bulbs or good stewards of those priorities.

  (I say this as very much a latecomer to the Obama bandwagon.)

  by NewDirection on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 09:31:45 PM PDT

  •  And By The Way

    By no stretch of the imagination is he an ideal candidate on the issues, or matching my own opinions. But that doesn't make him wrong, either, necessarily, as I and the American People generally can in fact be wrong....

    by NewDirection on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 09:35:35 PM PDT

  •  He said on the show that he would have voted with

    the Senior Senator of his state, Dick Durbin. Let's not forget those who voted against the IWR -- let us not forget the Paul Wellstone voted against it.

    Let us not forget these members:

    The SENATE:

    Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
    Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
    Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
    Robert Byrd (D-WV)
    Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)
    Kent Conrad (D-ND)
    Jon Corzine (D-NJ)
    Mark Dayton (D-MN)
    Richard Durbin (D-IL)
    Russell Feingold (D-WI)
    Robert Graham (D-FL)
    Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
    James Jeffords (I-VT)
    Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
    Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
    Carl Levin (D-MI)
    Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
    Patty Murray (D-WA)
    Jack Reed (D-RI)
    Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)
    Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
    Paul Wellstone (D-MN)
    Ron Wyden (D-OR)

    The HOUSE:

    Abercrombie
    Allen
    Baca
    Baird
    Baldacci
    Baldwin
    Barrett
    Becerra
    Blumenauer
    Bonior
    Brady (PA)
    Brown (FL)
    Brown (OH)
    Capps
    Capuano
    Cardin
    Carson (IN)
    Clay
    Clayton
    Clyburn
    Condit
    Conyers
    Costello
    Coyne
    Cummings
    Davis (CA)
    Davis (IL)
    DeFazio
    DeGette
    Delahunt
    DeLauro
    Dingell
    Doggett
    Doyle
    Eshoo
    Evans
    Farr
    Fattah
    Filner
    Frank
    Gonzalez
    Gutierrez
    Hastings (FL)
    Hilliard
    Hinchey
    Hinojosa
    Holt
    Honda
    Hooley
    Inslee
    Jackson (IL)
    Jackson-Lee (TX)
    Johnson, E. B.
    Jones (OH)
    Kaptur
    Kildee
    Kilpatrick
    Kleczka
    Kucinich
    LaFalce
    Langevin
    Larsen (WA)
    Larson (CT)
    Lee
    Levin
    Lewis (GA)
    Lipinski
    Lofgren
    Maloney (CT)
    Matsui
    McCarthy (MO)
    McCollum
    McDermott
    McGovern
    McKinney
    Meek (FL)
    Meeks (NY)
    Menendez
    Millender-McDonald
    Miller, George
    Mollohan
    Moran (VA)
    Nadler
    Napolitano
    Neal
    Oberstar
    Obey
    Olver
    Owens
    Pallone
    Pastor
    Payne
    Pelosi
    Price (NC)
    Rahall
    Rangel
    Reyes
    Rivers
    Rodriguez
    Roybal-Allard
    Rush
    Sabo
    Sanchez
    Sawyer
    Schakowsky
    Scott
    Serrano
    Slaughter
    Snyder
    Solis
    Stark
    Strickland
    Stupak
    Thompson (CA)
    Thompson (MS)
    Tierney
    Towns
    Udall (CO)
    Udall (NM)
    Velazquez
    Visclosky
    Waters
    Watson (CA)
    Watt (NC)
    Woolsey
    Wu

    The six Republicans who voted against the rez are as follows:

    Ron Paul of Texas, James A. Leach of Iowa, John N. Hostettler of Indiana, Constance A. Morella of Maryland, Amo Houghton of New York, and John J. Duncan of Tennessee.

    The lone Independent who voted against - Bernie Sanders.

    by LV Pol Girl on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 09:54:00 PM PDT

•  Whoop---there it is

  That answers a few questions for some folks.  We can put that to rest now.  Good judgment, great presidential candidate.

  by dotster on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 09:34:50 PM PDT

•  great video...

  it is bookmarked!

  by sc kitty on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 09:35:45 PM PDT

•  Exactly why I support Obama

  Judgement.

  by ArkansasLiberal on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 09:40:06 PM PDT

•  This validates my support for Obama.

  by RandyMI on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 09:49:34 PM PDT

•  He actually was not unequivocal...

  but talked about a straight up or down vote, and maybe he would have voted with Durbin, but why?  Just because he was Durbin?  

  So, what if Obama had seen more information and concluded Durbin was not right?

  After all, in 2006, when Kerry-Feingold came up regarding withdrawal and Obama was IN the Senate, then Durbin was apparently not worth following along with.

  Obama's after the fact comments of 11-02 can be used by either side.

  by citizen53 on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 09:51:16 PM PDT

  •  Excuse me...I misspoke...

    Obama did say he would have voted with Durbin, but that reushing headlong into a unilateral war was a mistake or may still be a mistake.

    Not that it WILL BE a mistake.

    Sounds like a hedge bet regarding something he did not have to decide in the first place.

    by citizen53 on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:02:52 PM PDT

    •  OR

      That the invasion had not yet happened at that point and he was a state senator with no access to intel (whch was of curse faulty).

      by RandyMI on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:05:58 PM PDT

  •  No, it can be disingenuously spun

    by desperate Edwards, Clinton, and Biden supporters.

    by Geekesque on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 05:37:16 AM PDT

•  One of the MANY reasons I trust this man

  He was against the war at the beginning.  If he makes a mistakes he owns up to it and corrects it.  I know our Country will be safe in his hands.

  by Lady Bird Johnson on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:21:38 PM PDT

•  Before that interview... in October 2002

  Obama wrote this:

  "I 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 is 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 U.S. 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."

  by dannyinla on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:40:44 PM PDT

•  Prescient

  He parsed the key issues correctly long before they played out.  Amazing.

  by Blue Orb on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:59:15 PM PDT

  •  No

    Anyone with a brain and a heart arrived at the same conclusions. It was not difficult to see through the shabby "evidence" being peddled by BushCo. Millions of people protested in the streets before (and after) this ill-conceived aggression. Obama shows here he has a heart and brain.

    Among the 2008 candidates, Hillary is one that doesn't have one of these organs.

    by Salvor Hardin on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 06:09:35 AM PDT

•  Obama shows he is the true foreign policy hand

  among the candidates.  He understood the dynamics of this war before it happened, and made his position crystal clear.  It is now beyond his opponents' ability to twist or obfuscate it.  It is yet another example of his good judgement, and he is going to ride it all the way to the presidency in 2008.  

  If you are interested in restoring America's good name in the world, Obama's your man.  Restoring is too weak of a word though.  Maybe transforming, or transcending, or raising it to a new height of respect and goodwill.  Take a look at Obama's reception abroad.

  by SVPublius on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 11:15:11 PM PDT