Obama and the Iraq War

Obama just can't go very long without reminding his supporters that a lot of the things we found appealing about him, he didn't really care that much about. His latest, likely to be one of the most quoted contributions:

But even in Iraq, America sought to work within the international system. We did not claim or annex Iraq's territory. We did not grab its resources for our own gain. Instead, we ended our war and left Iraq to its people in a fully sovereign Iraqi state that can make decisions about its own future.

Cenk Uygur explains (f-word used in video), Obama: Don't Compare Ukraine Invasion To Iraq The Young Turks 03/26/2014

Charlie Pierce, Digby Parton, Ryan Grim and David Bromwich have weighed in on this:

Pierce, The Limits of Conciliation Revisited Esquire Politics Blog 03/27/2014

Digby, You don't get credit for seeking approval and then doing what you want anyway when it's denied Hullabaloo 03/26/2014

Grim, Obama Defends Iraq Invasion: At Least America 'Sought' To Get UN Backing Huffington Post 03/26/2014

David Bromwich, Ukraine and Iraq: A Reminder Huffington Post 03/27/2014

The White House transcript: Remarks by the President in Address to European Youth 03/26/2014

I'm guessing David Gregory and David "Bobo" Brooks think this shows how Obama is "the grownup in the room." Because nothing says "grownup" like upsetting and discouraging your own most loyal supporters - you know, the people who your party needs to get out the vote and stuff like that during the Congressional elections this year. But, hey, Bipartisanship!

Also David Bromwich. I have a cautious appreciation for Bromwich's essays on Obama. He does some good analysis, but he also fairly obviously that he dislikes Obama, and he lets that detract from his analysis.

Also, I really did a double-take at this sentence, "Obama's speech in Brussels made a single, passing, doubtful mention of fascism (a word never used and its meaning hardly acknowledged in American politics)." This is obviously a guy who doesn't pay much attention to what Republicans actually say about Obama. Because they are constantly calling him a fascist and comparing him to Hitler. Along with calling him a Marxist Islamist Communist Nazi Kenyan socialist, etc. And his latest praise for Dick Cheney's War won't change that at all.

Tags: barack obama, iraq war