Obama regrets suggesting U.S. lives 'wasted' in Iraq

From the New York Times via the Houston Chronicle:

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said Monday that he had misspoken when he suggested the lives of more than 3,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq had been "wasted."

As he arrived in New Hampshire on the third day of his Democratic presidential campaign, Obama said he would "absolutely apologize" to military families if they were offended by a remark that he made Sunday in Iowa while criticizing the Bush administration's Iraq policy.

"What I would say — and meant to say — is that their service hasn't been honored," Obama said in Nashua, N.H., "because our civilian strategy has not honored their courage and bravery and we have put them in a situation in which it is hard for them to succeed."

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Apart from not quite knowing what the man stands for, this story represents my biggest problem with Obama: in his bipartisan zeal to be our nation's healer, he seems to be trying to be everything to everyone. That is, he obviously believes what he said the first time, that the lives of US soldiers are being wasted in Iraq, and he believes it because it's true: we invaded for lies and ideology; the occupation has failed and lingers due to extreme GOP corruption; the mess we've created is so awful that there seems to be no solution the US can offer by itself. We're throwing away lives with no end in sight. And I really do like that the Senator from Illinois has the balls to say so in the first place. But I do not like his Clintonian retraction. Instead of distancing himself from his true assertion, he should have explained the situation and taken the opportunity to trash his critics for their lies and distortions. Instead, he goes for this silly feel-good "Oh I didn't really mean that" kind of vibe. Like I said, Clintonian. They didn't call old Bill "Slick Willie" for nothing.

I will say this, however. As lame as I think this retraction is, I like Obama waaaaay the fuck better than Slick Willie's wife. Of course, none of that really matters: I'm not voting for a Democratic Presidential candidate again until I get one I like, which may be never.

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