Obama - change we need

fgl

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Obama vows to exit Iraq and rebuild US 'moral stature'

http://sg.rd.yahoo.com/partners/afp/SIG=10n1rur92/*http://www.afp.com/
AFP - 34 minutes ago WASHINGTON, (AFP) - - US President-elect Barack Obama vowed to pull troops out of Iraq, crush Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and shut down the Guantanamo Bay camp as part of a dramatic foreign policy break with George Bush.

Repairing the stricken US economy will be priority number one, even at the cost of still-bigger budget deficits, Obama said in his first major post-election interview broadcast on CBS program "60 Minutes" late Sunday.
Following his election triumph of November 4, Obama said at least one Republican would be in his cabinet and confirmed that he had met former Democratic primary rival Hillary Clinton last week.
But the president-elect refused to comment on speculation linking the former first lady to the job of secretary of state.
The man who will be the first black US president is accelerating his transition to inauguration day, resigning his Senate seat Sunday and appointing three more top aides to serve in his White House once he succeeds Bush.
As soon as that happens on January 20, Obama said, "I will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, my national security apparatus, and we will start executing a plan that draws down our troops" from Iraq .
"Particularly in light of the problems that we're having in Afghanistan, which has continued to worsen. We've got to shore up those efforts," Obama said in the interview, which was taped Friday.
On the campaign trail, Obama vowed to pull one or two combat brigades out of Iraq every month until after 16 months, only a residual security force of unspecified size remains. Some of those brigades would head to Afghanistan.
He told CBS that "it is a top priority for us to stamp out Al-Qaeda once and for all" and that killing or capturing the group's mastermind Osama bin Laden was "critical" to US security.
Obama pledged to tackle controversial offshoots of Bush's "war on terror" -- the US military's internment camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and harsh interrogations of captured terror suspects.
"I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that," the president-elect said.
"I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world," Obama added.
But he did not elaborate on where the Guantanamo prisoners would be taken, whether they would be transferred to civilian custody in the United States itself, put on trial, or released.
A command to redeploy troops out of Iraq or shut down Guantanamo could be done in short order under Obama's presidential prerogatives, and he is expected to reverse a slew of other contentious "executive orders" signed by Bush.
Obama said that in Congress, his first legislative priority was getting another stimulus package passed to prop up the enfeebled economy , if Democrats in the outgoing legislature fail to overcome Republican opposition.
As already shown in excerpts released by CBS, Obama said it would be a "disaster" for the government to stand by and let the cash-strapped General Motors and the auto industry in general collapse.
In line with the outcome of a summit Saturday of the world's 20 biggest economies, the president-elect said forging new regulation of the financial markets was essential to restoring the trust of consumers.
Obama appeared unconcerned about the red ink blotting the US government's finances, arguing economists from left and right agreed that "we have to do whatever it takes to get this economy moving again."
"And that we shouldn't worry about the deficit next year or even the year after. That short term, the most important thing is that we avoid a deepening recession," he said.
Joined by his wife Michelle in the interview, Obama said their two young daughters would get their promised dog, and expressed hope that Michelle's mother Marian Robinson would move in with them at their new residence.
Obama, a gifted writer who has authored two best-selling memoirs, turned wistful as he anticipated life in the White House fishbowl.
"That's something that I don't think I'll ever get used to. I mean, the loss of anonymity," he said. "And this is not a complaint, this is part of what you sign up for."
On Monday, Obama will meet in Chicago with his former Republican rival, Arizona Senator John McCain.
 
what does he mean by "rebuild moral stature"....? i find that a little ironic/contradictory coming from the first US president thats ok with abortion and gay marriages.
 
what does he mean by "rebuild moral stature"....? i find that a little ironic/contradictory coming from the first US president thats ok with abortion and gay marriages.


one president's morals are another president's poison I guess :confused:
 
what does he mean by "rebuild moral stature"....? i find that a little ironic/contradictory coming from the first US president thats ok with abortion and gay marriages.

It takes moral fiber not to bow to pressure from fundamentalist lobbyists who want to force their beliefs onto everybody.
 
It takes moral fiber not to bow to pressure from fundamentalist lobbyists who want to force their beliefs onto everybody.

not here to start a debate or argument but i dont get it - so he has moral fiber because he gave in to the opposing group who are calling for gay rights to marry and adopt kids + ok for mothers to abort and kill the life of an innocent, helpless babies?

both groups are fundamentalists who want to have their way.
 
No. It's about imposing your beliefs on others..

If you are don't want to be gay...don't be gay.
If you don't want a gay marriage....don't have a gay marriage.
If you don't want an abortion...don't have an abortion.

..but don't ruin someone else's life by imposing your beliefs on them.

Things are not black and white. Example, your 13 year old daughter is raped by a pyschopath. Should she be forced to endure child birth?
 
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what does he mean by "rebuild moral stature"....? i find that a little ironic/contradictory coming from the first US president thats ok with abortion and gay marriages.

US's moral authority has been ruined by the unpopular Iraq invasion and the torture of Iraqi prisoners by US troops. That's what he is refering to.
 
No. It's about imposing your beliefs on others..

If you are don't want to be gay...don't be gay.
If you don't want a gay marriage....don't have a gay marriage.
If you don't want an abortion...don't have an abortion.

..but don't ruin someone else's life by imposing your beliefs on them.

Things are not black and white. Example, your 13 year old daughter is raped by a pyschopath. Should she be forced to endure child birth?

good post

as for obama being elected sparking race crimes...

why can't they be more tolerant like singaporeans. sigh...i love how there is racial harmony is singapore.

lol offtopic abit, check out this vid i stumbled on awhile ago LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7itD1wab2Q

hehe enjoy!
 
That guy is like hillbilly/NYC street punk.....Does he even know where his slang came from? Abit retarded man.....
 
ok before i go on i would like to reiterate my disclaimer, im not here to debate/argue on these issues. just giving my opinion as food for thought.

i think widdly has brought out very valid and good points. The situation you brought out is a unique one. but keyword = unique, theres is no easy answer to that situation you raised. Personally im against abortion, but i also feel if in such a case, preventing the girl from aborting is like making her a victim twice. Yet i would like to point out that if you abort, you create another victim...

but this is not the issue at hand. The issue here is regarding the law which is a standard reflecting what is accepted asculturally/socially accepted norms. I raise abortion, gay rights as example only. Its not fair to say one group is the fundamentalist pushing their beliefs. Its two "fundamentalists" groups fighting/standing up for their beliefs as to what should be the accepted norm.

If i put myself in the shoes of the "fundamentalist", i wont like to be viewed or labelled that way, just because im standing up or fighting for my beliefs.

anyway, like i said i dont mean to offend. i only made my first comment because im not of the opinion that Obama has very strong moral values.
 
Taypeng - I think what you have to remember at the end of the day is that Obama leads a country of millions, and with that he has a responsibility to not only look at his own personal opinions but also take into consideration the opinions and feelings of others. The areas you have mentioned, abortion and gay marriage, are extremely grey areas with two opposing groups that each have their own beliefs on what is right or wrong.

To you abortion is morally wrong, but the important part of that statement is TO YOU. You are looking at it from a personal point of view, you are saying Obama is immoral because he supports abortion, where as someone from a pro abortion point of view could say you are immoral for denying a human being the right to make decisions about their own body, do you see what I mean?

When you are looking after the lives of millions it means you have to be fair, so although there are people who believe abortion is murder there are also people who believe that it is not, when leading a country you have to look at the whole picture and not narrow it down to what you believe. That is not a dig bro, just saying you cannot say Obama is immoral because he has a different opinion to yourself, who is to say you are not the one in the wrong?
 
ok wait wait, I didnt mean to go as far as to say Obama is immoral. "Immoral" is a very strong word, implying he is has absolutely no sense of moral values. I dont mean that and i will take back any statement i made that implied that.

but bro regarding abortion (example only), it is actually not a grey area. One group says its wrong to abort. The other says its ok. When you look at where various groups come from fundamentally, they will all fall into these two categories only. Its as simple as that. Its two sides to a coin.

So this is how i see it. here are basically two groups (those two i mentioned above). Obama is in the center, and they ask him (during some presidential debate) where does he stand. The problem lies here, he claims to be a Christian - someone who subscribes to the christian beliefs and values. I would expect someone with real moral fiber and courage to stick with his belief and not agree with an opposing belief. (Pls note ah, i am not implying he has no moral values, is a sleazy conman.)

putting into perspective that at that time he was running for president and potentially going to lead a country of millions, it wasnt a easy decision. As you pointed out.
 
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