First of all I'd like to thank whoever first uploaded this clip to the internet. Its marked Adam_final_clip and was downloaded from the internet...but the source is unknown.
The clip is around 90 secs long, yet astonishingly shows a COMPLETE address by State Senator Obama to a labor rally which was organized by the Chicago Teamsters sometime late in 2003. How do I know? Because Obama makes reference to President Bush's request to Congress for $87 billion
When we last explored Obama's views on the war, Obama had got himself in a pickle.In October 2002, he opposed the war at a peace rally in front a crowd of so-called Progressives and Peaceniks, thereby establishing Obama War Position 1, which according to one Dem Senator from New York is literally his only claim of qualification to be President. Obama proudly displayed his written version of The Speech, on the web (aka Obama War Position 1 )
End of April, 2003 within a month of the invasion starting, American approval of the War was at astonishingly high levels. Why? The allied invasion was complete: Saddam's statue had been visibly toppled.
May thru late June, Obama removes his speech containing Obama War Position 1 down from his website.
Eagle-eyed journalists at The Black Commentator notice this shocking development and notice that Obama has changed his message Writing in its June 5 Edition Assistant Editor Bruce Dixon wrote
...a few weeks ago, Barack Obama's heartfelt statement of principled opposition to lawless militarism and the rule of fear was stricken without explanation from his campaign web site, and replaced with mild expressions of "anxiety":
But I think [people are] all astonished, I think, in many quarters, about, for example, the recent Bush budget and the prospect that, for example, veterans benefits might be cut. And so there's discussion about that, I think, among both supporters and those who are opposed to the war. What kind of world are we building?
And I think that's - the anxiety is about the international prospects and how we potentially reconstruct Iraq. And the costs there, then, tie in very directly with concerns about how we're handling our problems at home.
Dixon continued:
His passion evaporated, a leading black candidate for the US Senate mouths bland generalities on war, peace and the US role in the world. Barack Obama, professor of constitutional law, is mum on the Patriot Act, silent about increased surveillance of US citizens, secret searches, and detentions without trial. His campaign literature and speeches ignore Patriot Act 2, which would detain US citizens without trial, strip them of their nationality and deport them to - wherever, citizens of no nation.
For a black candidate who is utterly reliant upon a fired up base among African American and progressive voters, who must distinguish himself from a crowded Democratic field, this is strange behavior, indeed. Polls show Blacks have consistently opposed administration war policies by at least two to one, as does the white progressive "base" of the party. Yet Obama appears determined to contain, rather than amplify, these voices.
Weeks after Dixon made his accusations, Obama sent him an email saying:
The only reason that my original anti-war speech was removed from my website was a judgment that the speech was dated once the formal phase of the war was over, and my staff’s desire to continually provide fresh news clips.
Of course, what Obama doesn't mention is that at that time in America, the formal phase was regarded as a huge success and the anti-war group were not high on anyone's popularity list.
Nor is there any indication that Obama has the practice of removing dated speeches...unless they're politically embarrassing. His current campaign and US Senate websites contain many old speeches including several on Iraq with long since past deadlines.
Obama put the speech back up on his Illinois State Senate website after an absence of six weeks. BC Magazine claims it was only because they publicly exposed him as a political coward.
But some time later that summer when the President went to the Congress for the funding to pay for Phase 1 of the rebuilding of Iraq which was mandated by International Law as well as the right thing to do for the Iraqi people, the stability of the region and American security interests, Obama takes the extreme position we should not be spending that money overseas. His populist message to the Teamsters Union...to hell with our responsibilities toward the Iraqis lets take the $87 billion and spend it on Local issues...thereby establishing Obama War Position 3
I can hardly wait to show you the next video with a complete 180 in his position which floors his interviewer: stay tuned
