Ok so the Political Cartoon of the day really doesn't have much to do with the election this year a whole lot, but todays article does deal with foreign policy and this political cartoon really does deal with foreign policy. This cartoon also was just a unique find for me since it is kind of old and quite witty. You could take this political cartoon and replace the swastica with a particular garment and suddenly it would become quite relevant but we wont discuss that too much. So lets just get on to the real foreign policy relevant to the modern world instead of an old political cartoon.

The Illinois senator has over the past two days escalated a campaign to minimize Iraq in the context of the overall war on terror.

Obama on Wednesday stressed the need to secure loose nuclear material and draw down nuclear stockpiles around the world. He said if the nation devoted just one month of Iraq combat costs, estimated to be $10 billion, it could virtually wipe out the threat of weapons-grade nuclear material falling into the hands of terrorists.

In what was billed as a major foreign policy address Tuesday, Obama said the Iraq war has become a distraction from fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and pledged to end the war by the summer of 2010.

Barack Obama’s continued call for a troop withdrawal timetable in Iraq has critics complaining that he’s set on that policy before even taking his highly anticipated trip to the Middle East.

“He’s going to Iraq but he’s already decided his position,” Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a top John McCain supporter, told FOX News on Wednesday. “He’s not going to listen to (David) Petraeus. He’s not going to listen to our troops. He’s not going to listen to his own eyes with what he sees there.”

The McCain campaign seized on an editorial Wednesday in The Washington Post that criticized Obama for sticking with his 16-month troop withdrawal timeline, even after hinting that he would “refine” his policy after visiting Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Mr. Obama appears to have decided that sticking to his arbitrary, 16-month timeline is more important than adjusting to the dramatic changes in Iraq,” the editorial said. “American commanders will probably tell Mr. Obama that from a logistical standpoint, a 16-month withdrawal timetable will be difficult, if not impossible, to fulfill. … If Mr. Obama really intends to listen to such advisers, why would he lock in his position in advance?”

McCain adviser Randy Scheunemann said on a conference call that Obama’s plan is an “ideologically driven commitment to withdrawing at any cost.”

“The American people have had enough of inflexibility on national security policy,” he said, obliquely criticizing the Bush administration.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement that Obama was also “committing to a policy” for Afghanistan before even visiting the country, and that “Barack Obama has shown he views foreign policy through a lens of ideology rather than through looking at facts.”

The Obama campaign argues that McCain is just now “waking up” to problems in Afghanistan, and claims he has no workable plan for either conflict.

Obama foreign policy adviser Susan Rice said on a conference call that McCain “wants to stay indefinitely at high-troop levels in Iraq, regardless of the situation, whether it’s improving or deteriorating.”

Obama released a new ad Wednesday addressing his national security platform.

“Forty years ago it was missile silos and the Cold War. Today, it’s cyber attacks, loose nukes, oil money funding terrorism,” the narrator in the ad says. “Barack Obama understands our changing world.”

As for the Washington Post editorial, she said it represented a narrow-minded approach to a broad set of national security threats.

“The Post would have you believe that we have the luxury of worrying only about one challenge and, whether it’s going well or going poorly, the answer is the same: to stay indefinitely,” she said.

“But we have a fundamental difference on the threat environment that we face globally.”

State of the Union Address

With the presidents final State of the Union Address we saw him make many promises in regard to the economy and a statement saying that we should see a budget surplus by the year 2012. Well sir this came right after your proposal to make the current tax cuts permanent. I am not in office but I am pretty sure that the concept of trickle down theory never actual worked. Your rebates to the rich are only filling the pockets of the wealthy and not encouraging them to spend. In times such as these where markets fluctuate too much to predict with any level of certainty.
Next our president claims to have achieved great results and high levels of success with his NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT. According to our president we are seeing record levels of reading and math scores with predominantly low income demographics. Well I think quickly we should take a look at how long this testing has been mandated and recorded. 8 years. I hope we start see improvement every year. That means that our educational system is doing something. BUT it does not mean that your bill has increased the quality of these schools. When a teacher is forced to teach a test we are encouraging our students to memorize and study only small examples of problems and reduce the level of critical thinking that takes place. We need to also find ways to increase the qualitative data as well as the quantitative data. Look at the amount of students attending college and the current GPA of those students. Are they prepared for the curriculum or were they only prepared for a standardized test?
On to Energy security. According to our president we need to invest more in entrepreneurs and research and development for clean energy. Then he proceeds to say we need to invest in Clean Coal, Nuclear, and Batteries. Well all of those things are both hazordous to the environment and still use fuel sources that are NOT renewable. Then our president discusses the importance of reducing our green house gas emissions but yet still refuses to accept the idea of GLOBAL WARMING but rather encourages this Global Climate Change which is his way of saying well I wasn't wrong on the Globabl Warming thing it's just that it's called Global Climate Change. Semantics sir Semantics. Then you profess trusting our scientists yet at the same time ignore the overwhelming scientific proof that Global Warming does exist. Nowhere is it getting colder sir only warmer so drop your semantical arguments and get with the program. No more double speak sir.
"On matters of Justice we must trust in the words of our Fore Fathers." He wants us to believe what our constitution says. Ok I will say I agree with you sir. DROP THE PATRIOT ACT. When did our Forefathers ever say that warrantless search and seizure was a good idea? When did it state that the use of a very ambigious label such as terrorist should be used in every possible scenario to invade the privacy of any citizen who dissents or distrusts in our current leadership? Sorry I must have missed that part of class. No I do not love Terrorists, I hate them as much as any other person, I will wait and hope for the safety of all of my friends and family in Iraq. But I do not think that it is necessary or constitutional to prey on people by labeling them without just cause. Drug Dealers are not terrorists, dissenters are not terrorists, protesters are not terrorists. You may not agree with the actions of many but treat them with a level of respect demanded by the Constitution of the United States.
Our president professes that when given the chance people will choose freedom over everything else. Well if that is the case then let them choose. Do not force democracy down the throats of the religious extremists. If they wish to rule their country by religious doctrine then help those who want to leave and let the rest stay. This would require us to open our borders though. If we wish to be the embodiment of freedom then we must allow ANYBODY to be free if they please. No I do not like the fact that many potential jobs will drop in their payment do to immigrants but this should force many of us to rise above a level of mediocrity.
On Iraq our president still insists that we are the victors thus far. A claim that our surge has worked and that we are ensuring that the "enemy does not return." We are supposedly improving the daily life in Iraq and will not abandon the Iraqi's who depend on us. I agree that we have helped a number of Iraqi's in the wake of our invasion but we have also ruined the lives of many for reasons that did not exist. We are spending billions of dollars on a war that CAN NOT BE WON. "The American and Iraqi surges are achieving results that few of us could have imagined possible just a few months ago." said our president. Sorry sir but I do not see the outcome you see. Our troops may be critical to the future of their country as you stated but they are also critical to the future of OUR country. They are critical to the future of OUR economy. They are critical to OUR safety. You say Al Qaeda can be defeated but it is not in Iraq where this will take place.
Beyond the rhetoric I am glad that we did not see a lot of nostalgia. I was not forced to sit through a dreamy afterthought of how our President viewed his presidency. We also got the good news of 20,000 troops coming home in the following months. Very good news. Just make sure that these troops are guaranteed their health and insurance upon their return. Do not ignore them and do not FAIL them. And I swear to God DO NOT SEND OUR TROOPS TO IRAN. The comments you made regarding Iran and the address you made to their leaders sound Eerily similar to the comments you made regarding Iraq. If you have any respect for our country sir PLEASE do not start another war. I do think it is great though, that you will allow the passing on of troops unused money for education and the like, to his family. This will encourage not only further education with our troops but to their families as well.
Also to those republicans who were in attendance tonight, I give you permission to skip the workout plan you had scheduled for tomorrow. I am sure that you achieved your target heart rate this evening while standing and sitting nearly 20 times. Not to mention the incessant applause you provided as white noise to the lulling sound of Bush's voice. We as viewers greatly appreciated you extending the Address by another 15 minutes.