Obama’s campaign rivals resurface on Iraq
President Barack Obama can’t seem to catch a break from the people he defeated on the way to the White House. First came Sen. John McCain, who accused him — not for the first time — of having no understanding of what he’s up against in the Middle East. Now comes former Secretary of State […]Jill Lawrence writes for Al Jazeera America:
President Barack Obama can’t seem to catch a break from the people he defeated on the way to the White House. First came Sen. John McCain, who accused him — not for the first time — of having no understanding of what he’s up against in the Middle East. Now comes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, suddenly sharpening her differences with Obama over Syria and his wary stance on intervention in general.
The president’s former rivals are picking on him even though he has taken quick, decisive and reasoned action in a foreign policy crisis. He has ordered airstrikes and humanitarian aid and is arming our Kurdish allies. He has said he will not let the Islamic State (IS) “create some caliphate through Syria and Iraq.” What McCain seems to want — and what Obama hasn’t offered — is a vow to annihilate the brutal jihadist group, which Obama describes as “barbaric terrorists.”
