Obama McCain Debate: The missing four years

Obama’s restraint Friday night was a missed opportunity to more fully address the failings of the Iraq war.

The following question was lobbed into the sweet spot: “What do you see as the lessons in Iraq?” Without the needed emotion, Obama noted only a wispy handful of “lessons”. 

If any reasonable list had been succinctly shared with the debate audience it would have resulted in the largest projectile group-vomit in history. So why won’t Barack concisely define the management of the war based on its entire sad five years?

McCain continues to corner him by insisting that Obama admit he was wrong on The Surge. The Straight Talker relentlessly defines the entire conflict based on this single 2007-launched (costly and potentially unsustainable) “success” while omitting discussion of the events of a war that began four years prior in early 2003.

Obama must stop defending his protest of The Surge (an overdue play that is improving things but lacks the longevity to define the game) by turning the tables on McCain and insisting that the Maverick admit his own mistake for supporting the war and its countless debacles in the first place.

And just for fun, here’s a a couple of America’s war inspired greatest hits that could have been mentioned:

WMD’s

Abu Ghraib

Patriot act

Saddam = 911

Iran’s new influence

Al Qaeda’s growth

Bin Laden at large

4 x increase in a barrel of oil

Greeted as liberators

Loss of U.S. influence in the world.

Guantanamo

Data mining Americans

Disbanding Iraqi army

Hiding coffins

Rumsfeld

Inadequate armor

Neglected VA hospitals

Ignored U.S. casualties (current 4,173 +)

Ignored U.S. wounded count (current 30,000 +)

Ignored Iraqi civilian casualties (est. 95,000 +)

Lowball the cost of the war (est. at $50b-$60b per Mitch Daniels c2003) vs. the current $557b spent or the est. $2-$3 trillion projected)

True numbers of  U.S. govt. paid military and support personnel currently in Iraq = 336,000 (146,000 U.S. troops + 190,000 + private contractors).

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