When I sit back and think what criteria I use to determine which candidate I will vote for I think of one word: Judgment. Why is judgment so important? It is important because no one knows what that candidate will face in the 4 or 8 years s/he is in power. Would anyone have guessed that 9/11 would have occurred? Of course not. So, the biggest thing you have to look at is their history of making good and sound decisions using judgment. That tells you their capability to deal with future, unknown events.
Barack has judgment. We can look back at what he did leading up to the war in Iraq, the statements he made and the political risk he took to determine what his thought process would be in future crises and future tough decisions.
Leading up to the war in Iraq which has become the albatross around the United States' neck, Barack made statements which were somewhat prophetic. In October 2002, Barack said:
"I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne." [Remarks of Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama Against Going to War with Iraq, 10/26/2002]"
This was a courageous step for Barack to take as he knew he would be running for the Senate. Given the fervor about going to war, it was considered almost treason back then to say bad things about the potential of this war. Barack got it right on the money! He nailed what the issue was and he spoke out about it.
As if a prophet, Barack said this in that same speech about what would happen if we went to war in the Middle East:
"I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda."
Today, Barack is reminding us what the purpose of the surge was and why it is not working. The press has essentially acquiesced to the party line that the surge is working; abdicating their job as an investigative arm of the American people. They essentially are just publishing White House Press Releases every night much like they did leading up to the war. Barack, however, cuts through that and reminds us of the problem:
"The goal of the troop surge was to create space for Iraq’s political leaders to reach agreement to end Iraq’s civil war. In January 2007, President Bush said the goal of the surge was to contain violence so that "Iraqis will gain confidence in their leaders, and the government will have the breathing space it needs to make progress in other critical areas." Since then, more than 700 American troops have died, but the Iraqi government has not stepped up. In early September, the United States Government Accountability Office found the Iraqi government has not enacted legislation to meet critical benchmarks on de- Ba'athification, oil revenue sharing, provincial elections, amnesty, and militia disarmament that are key to beginning national reconciliation."
So, Barack knows the purpose of the surge was not a military solution (i.e., provide security and that was it) but rather it was to provide security so the Iraqi government would have time to "do their business". They have not and not one more American should die while they take "holidays" and accomplish nothing. Time for them to stand on their own.
I provide this information as a back drop to my original point and that is we pick a President because of his/her judgment, capability to reason, innate intelligence and ability to envision the future. This serves as an example of just how good Barack is in these areas.
One thing we know for sure and that is if Barack were President in 2001, this Country would have taken an entirely different turn. We would not be mired down in a useless war, we would be 8 years further along in providing health care, 8 years further along in fiscal responsibility, and would not be hated by the entire world.
For that demonstration of great judgment, Barack is our man for President.