Who Said It: Bush or Obama?

[xchrom]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/06/who_said_it_bush_or_obama

With Super Tuesday in full swing, the Republican presidential candidates are once again distancing themselves from Barack Obama's approach to Iran's nuclear program, which the U.S. president outlined in an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Sunday, March 4. Rick Santorum has accused Obama of "appeasement" and turning "his back on the people of Israel," while Mitt Romney has promised to confront the "thugs and tyrants" in Iran with "our resolve, backed by our power and our readiness to use it." But, as the New York Times noted on Tuesday, the muscular rhetoric obscures the many similarities between the policies espoused by Obama and his Republican rivals.

Conventional wisdom holds that Obama couldn't be more different from his predecessor when it comes to Iran. George W. Bush wouldn't negotiate with Iran until it suspended its uranium-enrichment process. Obama initially talked about dropping the precondition, though he later compromised on the issue. Bush marveled that "some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along." Obama vowed to extend a hand "if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist." Bush once observed that after decades of sanctions against Iran, "We're out of sanctions." Obama has staked his Iran strategy on his ability to build international consensus around tougher economic sanctions to put a "world of hurt" on Iranian leaders.

Obama has played up these differences. "When I took office, the efforts to apply pressure on Iran were in tatters," Obama informed AIPAC on March 4. "Iran had gone from zero centrifuges spinning to thousands, without facing broad pushback from the world. In the region, Iran was ascendant -- increasingly popular and extending its reach. In other words, the Iranian leadership was united and on the move, and the international community was divided about how to go forward."

But the chasm, in terms of rhetoric and strategy, may not be as wide as you think. For evidence, we invite you to play Foreign Policy's favorite new game -- Who said it: Bush or Obama?

[Scuba]

1. Cherry picked statements, with no context, supposedly illustrating....

.... that Bush equals Obama.



I smell a load of crap.

[Enrique]

6. illustrating that the Republicans are exaggerating about Obama

Obama will welcome this "load of crap", he might even put it in an ad.

[FSogol]

2. Unrec for both parties are the same bs. n/t

[ProSense]

3. So

the author is comparing out of context Bush quotes to out of context Obama quotes to prove that Obama is no different from Romney and the rest of the GOP clowns (who have stated specifically that they want war)?

"But, as the New York Times noted on Tuesday, the muscular rhetoric obscures the many similarities between the policies espoused by Obama and his Republican rivals. "

[xchrom]

4. on iran in particular -- how different would you expect the admin following bush to be?

it seems to me this should make centrists happy.

[ProSense]

7. What

on iran in particular -- how different would you expect the admin following bush to be?

it seems to me this should make centrists happy.

...does that mean?

[xchrom]

9. it means -- except a real progressive or rw extremist takes the helm -- how

different would you expect policy on iran to be?

i don't like obama -- you do like obama -- but i wouldn't expect a politician like obama to be very different from bush on iran -- seems to me neither should you.

[ProSense]

11. So

i don't like obama -- you do like obama -- but i wouldn't expect a politician like obama to be very different from bush on iran -- seems to me neither should you.

...because you "don't like Obama," the OP is justified to cherry pick Bush quotes to claim there is no difference between Obama and the current Republican candidates?

[xchrom]

13. oy

[Dragonfli]

20. The policy with a centrist like the policy with a neocon will be whatever the far right AIPAC wants.

Everyone here knows this, they would like to pretend the money and lobbyists from this extreme right wing group influences nothing, but we all know the truth, some are just experimenting with denial because of cult of personality issues they need to work out.

[Enrique]

5. actually the Republicans sound more like Cheney

there was a real divide in the 2nd-term Bush administration, the current GOP is sounding like Cheney and the way they talk they should be calling Bush and Rice weak and dangerous.

[ProSense]

8. Even if the

actually the Republicans sound more like Cheney

there was a real divide in the 2nd-term Bush administration, the current GOP is sounding like Cheney and the way they talk they should be calling Bush and Rice weak and dangerous.

...current Republicans "sound more like Cheney," the OP is still weird.

Obama's statements are in no way similar to Romney's.

[Enrique]

17. you're being defensive

this is actually something Obama is going for, he can say, see? I'm not the radical everyone is saying I am. It's actually part of his campaign strategy.

[ProSense]

18. I don't

you're being defensive

this is actually something Obama is going for, he can say, see? I'm not the radical everyone is saying I am. It's actually part of his campaign strategy.

...think so.

Obama: Want a war? Say so
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002391544

[izquierdista]

10. Easy quiz

If the sentence has hard words in it, Obama said it.

[BlueIris]

16. I was shocked that the first quote (the article claims Bush said it)

used the term "diplomatically."

I can't recall ever hearing Bush use the word diplomatically. Or any variation of it. I have a hard time believing he could pronounce it.

[JNelson6563]

12. Bush~Obama ZERO DIFFERENCE!1!!

!1!!

lolz *pointing and laughing*

Julie

[mzmolly]

14. Oh yippee!

Gore = Bush part 4. Woo hoo!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Both embrace the bogeyman tactic of campaigning.

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

[Dragonfli]

19. Unfortunately, supporters that once supported progressive policy will push the right wing war meme

that their Democratic idol is selling, cheering on the sabre rattling and making supporters (right or left) spout the same neocon talking points just as they spout the same Heritage Foundation policies like GingrichCare and outsourcing via free trade.

Those that support neo-liberalism and neoliberal policies are becoming the same as the Republicans of the 90's. They, more than their candidates, are the ones indistinguishable from each other left from right (they just use different politicians as the scary boogymen that will lead to terrorism).

I miss having Democrats running, very few have been seen since Clinton turned the party far right and I fear they are now near extinct.
Moderate Republicans running around as Democrats is just not the same and nothing worth supporting.

[woo me with science]

21. K&R Hypocrisy reeks. nt