Mark Halperin of Time watches this exchange and suggests the news is Obama’s “semi-heated” with a reporter at a press conference at a gas station.*
I’m wondering if Obama inadvertently undid the Democrats’ criticisms on McCain’s “100 years” remarks.
Obama begins by emphasizing that he was going to leave troops at the U.S. embassy in Iraq to protect diplomatic personnel, like we do in France and Great Britain**.
OBAMA: I’ve said we will have troops looking… after our embassy there. Which we do everywhere. We do it in France, we do it in Great Britain. We have some military personnel to make sure our… diplomatic, uh… forces are taken care of. We have troops to make sure our civilian populations are cared for. And what I have said is I would have a strike force in the region, perhaps in Iraq, perhaps outside of Iraq, so that we could take advantage of, or we could deal with potential problems that might take place in the region. That’s very different from saying that we’re going to have a permanent occupation in Iraq. It’s certainly different than saying we would have a high level of combat troops inside Iraq for a decade, or two decades, or, as John McCain said, perhaps 100 years. I mean, I ‘m just quoting back what he said, unless you tell me that that’s a misquote.”
REPORTER: I just wonder if it – you’ve been critical of Senator Clinton for distorting, for taking the political and sort of, pushing it too far and I’m just wonder, are you guilty of doing the same thing —
OBAMA: What I’m asking is, am I misquoting Senator McCain in any way?
REPORTER: We’ll have to go back to his quote, I guess, but I talk that he’s talking about it in the spirit of Germany and Japan, of —
OBAMA: And we’ve been in South Korea for four– for fifty years, and he’s used that as an example, as George Bush has.
So even Barack Obama acknowledges that McCain’s 100 years remark was not a prediction or a recommendation of combat operations for 100 years, but about a long-term local troop presence within the territory with an ally, similar to other arrangements the U.S. has with friendly countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Of course, perhaps it’s only fair that Obama come to the aid of McCain on what Democrats think is his most damaging gaffe, as McCain quietly came to Obama’s rescue early on in the Wright controversy, declaring, “But I do know Senator Obama. He does not share those views.”
* According to his wife, Obama ought to be careful at gas stations.
** This report from 2004 on LewRockwell.com notes “There are currently over 1,200 Marines serving at over 130 posts abroad, in over 100 countries.” Do the math, that averages less than ten per embassy. While the Marines are not the only security personnel at an embassy, when Obama talks about keeping troops in Iraq to protect the embassy “like we do in France and Great Britain” keep in mind he’s talking about reducing the number of troops in the country from about 156,000 to about a dozen.