 | Ned Lamont Endorses Barack Obama |
Ned Lamont, the Democrat who dared to take on Joseph Lieberman in 2006 and expose the truth about Lieberman’s right wing political agenda, has endorsed Barack Obama for President.
Ned Lamont wrote in explanation of his endorsement:
I am announcing my support of Barack Obama for President because I am convinced that his forward-looking, progressive vision provides the best chance to enact meaningful reforms in the way Washington works.
Sen. Obama has the tone and temperament to bring out the best in our people and our nation, and to bring new coalitions together in support of the progressive policies we all want to see enacted. His campaign has already reflected this, not only by bringing hundreds of thousands of new voters of all ages to the polls, but by inspiring so many who are new to politics to become activists as well…
We have seen that Sen. Obama has the wisdom and judgment to get the big decisions right – as he did on Iraq more than five years ago. And when President Obama steps out of Air Force One in countries around the world, he will represent a fresh start with friends and allies. He will end the war in Iraq, work for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, and start investing in America again – and we will be safer and stronger for it.
Barack Obama gave praise in return, saying, “Ned Lamont is a strong progressive leader who understands the power of the grassroots, and I’m proud to have his support. Ned and I have both refused to accept money from Washington lobbyists, and we both took a stand against the war in Iraq that never should have been authorized and never should have been waged.”
It’s worth remembering that in the 2008 presidential election, Joseph Lieberman has endorsed a Republican candidate. It’s also worth remembering that in the 2006 election, Bill and Hillary Clinton supported Joseph Lieberman, with Bill Clinton jabbing Ned Lamont even after Lamont got the Democratic nomination.
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When was it again that Obama made a “big decision” against war in Iraq? I seem to have missed that one.
Comment by Iroquois — 1/11/2008 @ 12:15 pm
Well, then you missed it. Back in 2002, he made the big decision that Hillary Clinton was too cowardly to make (even though I and huge numbers of her other constituents begged her to make a stand). Barack Obama took a strong public stand against starting the Iraq War.
Comment by J. Clifford — 1/11/2008 @ 2:26 pm
The last time I checked, back in 2002 Obama was an Illinois state senator. He may have made some sort of public remark about wars in general at the time, but was not in a position to vote on it. He did not have to make the genuinely difficult decisions in the face of extreme public support for the war that other politicians had to make.
To call that a “big decision” is a big stretch.
Some say that in fact he made very careful statements but did not jump until the cat jumped. It was not until 2007 that Obama introduced legislation for a troop pullout deadline, but he still does not support withdrawal of funding for the war.
Political pundits consider the top three contenders to have essentially the same policy position on Iraq.
BTW, did you see John Kerry just endorsed Obama too?
Comment by Iroquois — 1/11/2008 @ 6:48 pm
Uh, Iroquois, Barack Obama had the wisdom and decency to oppose the Iraq War from the start.
Hillary Clinton ignored that the majority of us New York State residents wanted her to vote NO on starting the Iraq War. She supported George W. Bush instead.
She has yet to apologize for that decision.
Surely, you can acknowledge the distinct difference in quality of judgment between the two.
Comment by J. Clifford — 1/11/2008 @ 9:45 pm
Oh, jclifford, I KNOW you don’t have a link for that one.
The Illinois state senate did not have a vote authorizing the Iraq war and Barack Obama did not cast any vote for or against the Iraq war “from the start”. He was a STATE senator.
Comment by Iroquois — 1/11/2008 @ 10:52 pm
If Obama is so against the Iraq war, why doesn’t he vote against funding it?
Comment by Iroquois — 1/11/2008 @ 10:53 pm
Iroquois, you seem dedicated to avoiding this issue. I didn’t say that Barack Obama was in Congress at the time.
Barack Obama strongly and publicly opposed the invasion of Iraq, when Hillary Clinton helped George W. Bush speed it up, and has never apologized for it. Senator Clinton ignored the message from the majority of her constituents in New York State, who were against the war. A huge number of New Yorkers, myself among them, sent messages to Hillary Clinton, begging her not to vote yes on letting George W. Bush start the war.
Barack Obama was with us, asking Democratic leaders not to help Bush invade Iraq. Hillary Clinton was not with us. In fact, she stood against us.
Why are you working so hard to avoid this simple point?
Comment by J. Clifford — 1/12/2008 @ 7:46 am
You’re the one avoiding the issue.
Where is your LINK?
Obama was not “with you”. He was in the Illinois senate.
Where is your link that proves Barack Obama “strongly and publicly opposed the invasion of Iraq”. Where is his message to George W. Bush begging him not to start the war? He didn’t. There isn’t one.
While you’re at it, where is their voting records on the war, back to back. Some claims are being made that they are identical. That should be pretty easy to prove or disprove.
I also have a hard time believing the majority of New Yorkers were against the war. Out here there were flags in front of every business, a flag on every house, a flag on every car, two or three flags on the Arab businesses. I hadn’t seen so many flags since Vietnam. The politician who ignored all those flags would have been crucified. Didn’t you have flags in New York?
Comment by Iroquois — 1/12/2008 @ 10:54 am
Whoa. That’s weird. Didn’t Obama endorse Lieberman over Lamont in the Connecticut primary in 2006?
Comment by Jean — 1/12/2008 @ 4:10 pm
Both Hillary and Barack supported Lamont once he won the party’s nomination; Obama wrote a $5000 check to his campaign:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR2006080900543_2.html
Here’s what Obama said about his record on Iraq (from the 1/5/08 debate NYT transcript):
“It was a mistake to go in from the start, and that’s why I opposed this war from the start.”
The only indication I have found of his public stand on Iraq at the time was a statement he made at a public rally standing next to Jesse Jackson and saying something like “I do not oppose all wars, I oppose stupid wars.”
Obama is not representing himself as Crusader Rabbit against Iraq, and indeed voted for the Patriot Act and voted billions for continued funding of the war. It seems Obama’s supporters are making a more unreasonable representation of his anti-war position than Obama makes himself.
Looking again at Obama’s statement at the onset of the war, the statement is as usual carefully crafted, and could have been used differently if the public opinion on the war had gone differently. In this way Obama is something of a mugwump, a politician who sits on a fence with his mug on one side and his wump on the other. At the time Obama made the remark, though, I did consider it to be a cautious and restrained criticism of the war.
A review of the debate transcript looks like ALL the candidates deny the Iraq “surge” has worked, and are for immediate withdrawal.
Comment by Iroquois — 1/13/2008 @ 1:15 pm