esrosedotblog

QUALIFIED PRIOR TO DAY ONE

Kevin Drum is sorta neutral in the Demo primary so his review of Obama's performance in the Iraq hearings is middle of the road.

Obama was able to hit Petraeus and Crocker very hard....He got Petraeus to agree with him that the total elimination of Al Qaeda is an impossible standard for withdrawal. Next he goes after Crocker's points about Iranian influence, pointing out that both Iran and Al Qaeda are in Iraq because we invaded and that we can not expect to eliminate Iranian involvement.

Then came the hammer. Obama pointed out that if the definition of success is put so high - no Al Qaeda, no Iranian influence, a prosperous diverse democracy we will be there forever. He then points out that we still, after 8 hours of testimony, have no definition of success....Crocker's weak response its "hard and complicated."

No mention of Hillary who mostly rhetoricized as far as I can tell.

Labels: obama