Bill O’Reilly was direct and confrontational, as he always is in interviews, but he was also the usual fair interviewer. The questions so far have been solidly based on what voters are most concerned about and included 4 out of 10 questions I expected him to be asked (including 2 that I am aware of for Tuesday).
Senator Obama answered the question on the Surge, finally admitting that it was a
“success beyond all expectations”
And there was the question about if America is involved in a war on terror where he again said yes. Further adding that our enemies include Al Quida, the Taliban and a network of other fanatical Muslims that have “perverted Islam”.
I am surprised by the answers as Senator Obama has been remiss to speak so directly on such issues. His prior stances on such aggressive actions by America have generally lead one to believe he is far more pacifist than his answers with O’Reilly revealed.
Now that is not to say that Senator Obama was on brand new territory with all the questions. He still maintains his latest view of Iran, that it is dangerous and a nuclear Iran is unacceptable. A far cry for his early descriptions of the nation. And I accept that how he would prepare for an Iran pursuing nuclear weapons could not be answered as since he potentially could be out next President and thus would be tipping his hand.
Though that raises an interesting question. If telling Iran about our plans is foreshadowing our actions, how is creating an exacting timetable not the same? If Iran could anticipate and counter our actions because we openly provided our plans, how can Al Quida or any other group not anticipate and react to a specific date of withdrawl – not unlike Saigon in the 1970’s?
Moving on, I’m also glad that O’Reilly admitted that history will likely prove that our initial action against Iraq was a bad idea. That Senator Obama, then unelected and unable to vote in the Senate, was correct to oppose the war. Though I continue to think that Democrats are far too fixated on that one event in the past, looking for people to blame without dealing with the pressing current issue at hand.
But in discussing Iraq, which I started with, I noticed something about Senator Obama I had not seen before. He refuses to admit he was wrong to any degree. He was adamant to point out how there are problems with the Surge, and that it has not accomplished everything it was supposed to. And that prior to the vote for the Surge (which he and Democratic VP Senator Biden voted against) he relied on the fact that President Bush’s strategies had been wrong.
Now given that he is absolutely correct, President Bush had run the war exceptionally badly, that does not change the fact that the Surge worked – as he admitted – and thus he and Biden were wrong in their vote. I have to wonder that if he cannot admit that, how is he different than how Democrats stated President Bush was intractable in his belief about pre-Surge Iraq? If one was bad, how is another not equally troubling?
Now another thing I noticed is the body language of both men. Bill O’Reilly was sitting in a very guarded position. And Senator Obama was sitting forward. As the conversation got headed, respectfully, Obama tapped O’Reilly several times.
I’m not an expert but I take that to mean that O’Reilly was on the offense. Senator Obama was intense, slightly uncomfortable and when he was touching O’Reilly he was trying to establish a sense of friendliness, deflection of argument, and asserting his strength of convictions. Both are not bad things and speak to the strong characters of both men.
Overall I have to say that the entire first part was far too short. I wanted to hear more. I’m anxious to see what else will be asked and how Senator Obama responds. I am especially interested in the Tuesday portion.
I do not feel that either man was disrespected. Both made intelligent arguments. And Senator Obama showed a determination that really has not appeared before.
Oh I mentioned Tuesday. That is when questions about Bill Ayers and Rev Wright will be asked. I previously stated I thought that this would be included in the questions asked. I was told that I was racist to hope for Obama to be asked these questions. We shall see if Senator shares that opinion, or my own.
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