Chuck Todd has suggested that Chris Dodd and Joe Biden were auditioning for a new role last night, when they took a few swings at Barack Obama over his statements on Pakistan – Hillary’s attack dogs. As if she needed them. A more likely possibility is that they were acting out of self-preservation rather than any ambition to be a part of a future Clinton administration. The time has come for those not named Clinton or Obama to make their move and to try to get some blows in to knock down the top two candidates. That’s not to suggest that Dodd or Biden didn’t have it right when they criticized Obama on Pakistan, however…
Good thing that this was only a candidate forum. If this was an actual debate, it would have to be considered one of the most unfocused, disorganized debates we have seen so far. Keith Olbermann was unable to control what was happening on the stage, but in some cases, this was a good thing. If he had tight control over this forum, we might not have gotten the exchange between Dodd, Clinton and Obama. Dodd and Clinton argued that going into Pakistan would destablize the regime of Pakistan President Musharraf. Even though I’m sympathetic to Obama’s call to go in and get Osama bin Laden if we have the “actionable intelligence” needed to know for sure where he is, this is not the right time to discuss that possibility. Musharraf is struggling to keep control of Pakistan, to stay alive even, so even if he’s not the best guy to spread democracy, if he is overthrown, the resulting government will be much worse.
Pakistan appears to disapprove of Obama’s grand plan .”It’s a very irresponsible statement, that’s all I can say,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khusheed Kasuri told AP Television News. “As the election campaign in America is heating up we would not like American candidates to fight their elections and contest elections at our expense.” I don’t think Obama will get away with making the argument that since the other senators voted for the war in Iraq, they don’t have the ability to question his Pakistan strategy. Does anyone actually believe that Obama would go into Pakistan with our military to take out Bin Laden? I doubt that he would.
Tags: Barack Obama, ’08 election, Democrats