Promises Obamises:In his own words…

Getting to know Mr. Obama…I want to ask him, how is it that Hillary Clinton gets tagged as a liar and you are the messiah?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15304689/page/3/#storyContinued Oct. 22, 2007.

MR. RUSSERT: The last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, said this: Barack Obama, who he thinks has the intelligence and the toughness necessary to be president, but has to be careful about running too soon. Is that a fair comment?

SEN. OBAMA: I think it’s a fair comment, absolutely.

MR. RUSSERT: Do you think the—President Clinton has some self-interest in making that comment?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, you know, the—I don’t know how the president’s thinking. I’m a big admirer of Bill Clinton’s work. I think that—the one thing I’m clear about in terms of the presidency is, is it can’t be something that you pursue on the basis of vanity and ambition. I think there’s a, there’s a certain soberness and seriousness required when you think about that office that is unique. And at some point, the bargain you’re making with the American people is, is that, “You put me in this office and my problems are not relevant. My job is to think about your problems.”

And so anybody, I think, who’s pursuing it, has to, has to understand the gravity of it, and, and make sure that the reason they want to do it is not simply because they want to see their name in the headlines.

MR. RUSSERT: You’ve been a United States senator less than two years, you don’t have any executive experience. Are you ready to be president?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, I’m not sure anybody is ready to be president before they’re president. You know, ultimately, I trust the judgment of the American people that, in, in any election, they sort it through. And that’s, you know, we have a long and rigorous process, and, you know, should I decide to run, if I ever did decide to run, I’m confident that I’d be run through the paces pretty good, including on MEET THE PRESS.

(Videotape, January 22, 2006):

Russert: When we talked back in November of ‘04 after your election, I said, “There’s been enormous speculation about your political future. Will you serve your six-year term as United States senator from Illinois?”

Obama: Absolutely. I will serve out my full six-year term. You know, Tim, if you get asked enough, sooner or later you get weary and you start looking for new ways of saying things. But my thinking has not changed.

Russert: So you will not run for president or vice president in 2008?

Obama: I will not.

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Further, in a July 24, 2004, interview on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Obama said that while he “didn’t have the information that was available to senators,” he would have voted against the Iraq war authorization:

BLITZER: Had you been in the Senate when they had a vote on whether to give the president the authority to go to war, how would you have voted?

OBAMA: You know, I didn’t have the information that was available to senators. I know that, as somebody who was thinking about a U.S. Senate race, I think it was a mistake, and I think I would have voted no.

BLITZER: You would have voted no at the time?

OBAMA: That’s correct.

BLITZER: Kerry, of course, and Edwards both voted yes.

OBAMA: But keep in mind, I think this is a tough question and a tough call. What I do think is that if you’re going to make these tough calls, you have to do so in a transparent way, in an honest way, talk to the American people, trust their judgment.

From the November 11 edition of NBC’s Meet the Press:

RUSSERT: You were not in the Senate in October of 2002. You did give a speech opposing the war. But Senator Clinton’s campaign will say since you’ve been a senator, there’s been no difference in your records. And other critics will say you’ve not been a leader against the war, and they point to this. In July of 2004, Barack Obama: “I’m not privy to Senate intelligence reports. … What would I have done? I don’t know,” in terms of how you would have voted on the war. And then this. “There’s not much of a difference between my position and George Bush’s position at this stage.” That was July of ‘04. And then this: “I think that there is room for disagreement in that initial decision” to vote for authorization of the war. It doesn’t seem that you were firmly wedded against the war and that you left some wiggle room that, if you were in the Senate, you may have voted for it.

OBAMA: Now, Tim, that first quote was made with an interview with a guy named Tim Russert on Meet the Press during the convention when we had a nominee for the presidency and a vice president, both of whom had voted for the war, so it probably was the wrong time for me to be making a strong case against our party’s nominees’ decisions when it came to Iraq. Look, I was opposed to this war in 2002, 2003, ‘4, ‘5, ‘6, and ‘7. What I was very clear about, even in 2002 in my original opposition, was once we were in, we were going to have to make some decisions to see how we could stabilize the situation and act responsibly. And that’s what I did through 2004, ‘5, and ‘6, try to see, can we create a workable government in Iraq? Can we make sure that we’re minimizing the humanitarian costs in Iraq? Can we make sure that our troops are safe in Iraq? And that’s what I have done. Finally, in 2006-2007, we started to see that even after an election, George Bush continued to want to pursue a course that didn’t withdraw troops from Iraq but actually doubled down and initiated the surge. And at that stage, I said very clearly, not only have we not seen improvements, but we’re actually worsening potentially a situation there. And since that time, I’ve been absolutely clear in terms of the approach I would take. I would end this war and I would have our troops out within 16 months.

Tags: Barack Obama, Culture, Democrats, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, Interviews, Liars, Life, Media, MSNBC, People, Politics, Tim Russert