Barack Obama and the Winds of War

But Barack Obama--who has never claimed to be a Black leader--is in fact not a leader at all. Nowhere is this more evident than in the most critical issue facing Americans and the world at this dangerous juncture in history: the war in Iraq.

One year after his bland and idea-less speech on Iraq to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (see "Obama Mouths Mush on War," December 1, 2005), Obama returned to mush more of the same to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The U.S. should "begin to move towards a phased redeployment of American troops from Iraqi soil," he told the business-oriented crowd. Since the objective reality on the ground in Iraq and in U.S. public opinion had changed dramatically in the intervening year--resulting in Democratic capture of the House and Senate--Obama's failure to substantively revise his previous, timid prescriptions actually amounts to a turn to the right.

As the 2008 campaign begins, Obama instinctively positions himself even closer to the right wing of the party. His finger is in the wind, as always, but not the popular national or Democratic rank and file winds. Rather, Obama's game is to maneuver himself deep into the foggy Iraq policy realm inhabited by the gaggle of Democratic "front-runners"--a muck from which nothing ever emerges of any relevance to Iraqi or world realities. On that soggy playing field, the Senator is betting that his personal popularity and charisma will propel him towards his goal--whether that be the presidential or vice-presidential nomination, or simply to solidify his position as a major power broker.

Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold dropped out of the race this month, the only presidential hopeful to call for a firm timetable for the bulk of U.S. troops to actually leave Iraq by July, 2007, rather than a schedule to begin withdrawal at some point months in the future--Obama's position. With no one to Obama's left, he feels free to repeat the platitudes offered by the rest of the Democratic presidential field.

Obama's focus on gamesmanship rather than principled leadership, which became strikingly evident well before he won election to the U.S. Senate, in 2004, has rendered him virtually useless in the struggle to end the occupation and war in Iraq, or to prevent further U.S. aggressions in the future. Both his Chicago speeches testify to that sad fact.

Obama in Wonderland

In contrast to Sen. Feingold's proposal that U.S. troops "redeploy from Iraq" by mid-summer, and Congressman Jack Murtha's proposal that Washington "immediately redeploy U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces," Sen. Obama calls for "a phased redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq on a timetable that would begin in four to six months. Such a timetable may not need to begin in 2007, but begin it must."

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