Today in Charleston, WV, Obama connected the dots between the Iraq War and the sputtering economy. In the speech he railed against what this war had done to our economy and against McCain for wanting to continue this failed policy.
But Hillary Clinton didn't go unscathed. Quite the opposite:
Now, at that debate in Texas several weeks ago, Senator Clinton attacked John McCain for supporting the policies that have led to our enormous war costs. But her point would have been more compelling had she not joined Senator McCain in making the tragically ill-considered decision to vote for the Iraq war in the first place.
The speech is one of the first dedicated towards connecting the war with the economy, something that the American people have known for a long time, but pundits have seemed to ignore:
And today, I want to talk about another cost of this war – the toll it has taken on our economy. Because at a time when we’re on the brink of recession – when neighborhoods have For Sale signs outside every home, and working families are struggling to keep up with rising costs – ordinary Americans are paying a price for this war.
When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war.
When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war.
When a National Guard unit is over in Iraq and can’t help out during a hurricane in Louisiana or with floods here in West Virginia, our communities are paying a price for this war.
He goes on to list the costs of the war, and how much more it will cost us than we were told, and what a drain it is on the economy.
McCain?
What no one disputes is that President Bush has done what no other President has ever done, and given tax cuts to the rich in a time of war. John McCain once opposed these tax cuts – he rightly called them unfair and fiscally irresponsible. But now he has done an about face and wants to make them permanent, just like he wants a permanent occupation in Iraq. No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences, John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush-term.
About as clear as it gets: a third Bush-term.
Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting for the people of West Virginia. For what folks in this state have been spending on the Iraq war, we could be giving health care to nearly 450,000 of your neighbors, hiring nearly 30,000 new elementary school teachers, and making college more affordable for over 300,000 students.
And Obama continues to talk about all we could be doing instead of paying for this war.
I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing. For as much as pundits, McCain, and Hillary Clinton want to say "well, that's the past," we should never forget that the original sin was the judgment to allow this catastrophe to happen in the first place.
UPDATE: Commenter Duha had a great point below. THIS should be the focus of Obama for the next few weeks, day after day. The war and the economy. The war and the economy. It's a winning issue for him and hangs a millstone not just around McCain's neck but around Hillary Clinton's. He kills many birds with this one stone.
I'd like to see him hammer away at this theme. As slinkerwink noted, no major media outlets covered this speech. All the more reason it needs to be repeated.