Barack Obama has presented himself as a unique political figure who says what he means and does what he says. In the Ohio debate, we saw a glimpse of the real Obama; the Obama who became chair of a national security subcommittee, put it on his resume, but did not hold a single oversight hearing because he was too busy running for president; the Obama who spends his time talking about change you can believe in instead of change you actually can count on. Given the opportunity to take the reins of leadership and shape two critical areas of U.S. foreign policy – Afghanistan and our alliances in Europe – Sen. Obama has done next to nothing.
As chairman of a key Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee, Sen. Obama had an opportunity to assert his leadership and set an agenda for America to help address the war in Afghanistan and strengthen some of our most important alliances. But by his own admission, he was too busy running for president to conduct a single substantive hearing of the subcommittee he chairs. He would rather talk about what he would do, rather than do it through the responsibility he had. Hillary Clinton doesn’t just want the job of president; she wants to carry out the job of president. How can we tell what Barack Obama would be like as president if he did not carry out his responsibility in the senate?
Curtis Taylor
Eugene