This is going to be a LONG four years if we can't get simple facts out of Barack Obama.
From the Associated Press:
President-elect Obama has spoken to the president of Poland about relations between the two countries but didn't make a commitment on the multibillion-dollar missile defense program undertaken by the Bush administration, an Obama aide said Saturday.
That contrasts with a statement by Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who said Obama told him the missile defense project would continue.
The U.S. and Poland signed an agreement in August for basing American missiles in Poland as part of a shield against possible missile attacks from Iran.
The plan received relatively little discussion during the presidential campaign. Republican candidate John McCain supported it while Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination, expressed skepticism about its effectiveness and cost.
Obama said earlier this year that the system would require much more vigorous testing to ensure it would work and justify the billions of dollars it would cost.
Obama foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said Saturday that Obama had "a good conversation" with Kaczynski about the American-Polish alliance.
"President Kaczynski raised missile defense, but President-elect Obama made no commitment on it. His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable," McDonough said.
In a statement issued before McDonough's, Kaczynski said Obama "emphasized the importance of the strategic partnership of Poland and the United States and expressed hope in the continuation of political and military cooperation between our countries. He also said that the missile defense project would continue."
President Bush wanted construction of a European missile shield—installations would be in Poland and the Czech Republic—to begin before he left office in January with a completion date of 2012.
I don't think the United States is going to improve its standing in the world, as Obama and his fellow Leftists believe needs to be done, if Obama sends mixed messages.
Obama will be seen as unreliable.
It's mind-boggling to me why Obama would want to appear wobbly on protecting a NATO ally currently being threatened by Russia.
Did Obama miss the fact that Russia is threatening Poland?
France says the European Union is "deeply concerned" about a threat by Russia to deploy short-range missiles near Poland.
The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the comments by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev this week "do not contribute to the establishment of a climate of trust and the improvement of security in Europe."
The conflicting reports from Polish President Lech Kaczynski and an Obama aide certainly raise concerns about Obama and his ability to manage foreign policy.
It looks like Obama might really change the world. I hope I'm wrong.
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UPATE: Obama makes 'no commitment' on missile shield
Barack Obama has made no commitment that a missile defense shield in eastern Europe will go ahead, an advisor to the president-elect said Saturday, in apparent contradiction of statements by Poland.
Earlier, a statement from Polish President Lech Kaczynski after the two men spoke by telephone said Obama had said he would go ahead with plans to build a missile defense shield in eastern Europe despite threats from Russia.
But Obama had given no such clear cut undertaking on the controversial program, his senior foreign policy advisor Denis McDonough said in a statement.
(The) "president-elect had a good conversation with the Polish President and the Polish Prime Minister about the important US-Poland alliance," McDonough said in a statement.
"President Kaczynski raised missile defense but President-elect Obama made no commitment on it.
"His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable."
The statement by President Kaczynski appeared to put a different spin on the conversation between the two men.
"Barack Obama has underlined the importance of the strategic partnership between Poland and the United States, he expressed his hope of continuing the political and military cooperation between our two countries," the statement read.
"He also said the anti-missile shield project would go ahead," said a statement said.
3 comments:
You mean 8 successful years.
To wish anything less, is to wish ill for America.
Obama cannot begin to understand the enormity of what his responsibilities are in the world. This guy is nothing more than a fly-by-night machine politician that could sell snake oil. He looks at everything the way it should be in his imagined Utopia. Nobody can tell him anything about anything. This is going to be "fun" to watch, I guess.
Not to be missed opinion piece:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1084111/PETER-HITCHENS-The-night-waved-goodbye-America--best-hope-Earth.html
First two paragraphs:
Anyone would think we had just elected a hip, skinny and youthful replacement for God, with a plan to modernise Heaven and Hell – or that at the very least John Lennon had come back from the dead.
The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilisation. At least Mandela-worship – its nearest equivalent – is focused on a man who actually did something.
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