Talk about night and day: I had the intriguing timing Tuesday (3/13) to interview two presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan...their contrasting views on many issues was to be expected but to hear them talk about what to do with the Iraq war reveals yet again the tough slog ahead -- politically, that is, in Washington, D.C.
Obama couldn't be more crystal clear: there's no way this war can be won militarily so every day we try to do exactly that is a day lost. Better to go to Plan B: push harder for a political solution, set a withdrawal timetable and plan for the potential humanitarian disaster. Brownback was more circumspect, saying also "we can't impose a military solution but I am not for deadlines." Brownback, an ardent early supporter of the war, has become more skeptical, calling for the US to push hard for a political settlement, preferably a three-state, one country solution. Brownback told me he knows what the Dems are against; he'd like to know more about what they will compromise on. The reality is that the U.S. is fighting insurgents, terrorists, and in the midst of a Civil War with its own complexities made even more surreal by our occupation.
My point is that there are probably Congressional solutions closer at hand that one might imagine...but it's all meaningless when the President had decided his is the one and only way.
Read more about my talks with Obama and Brownback in upcoming "Out on a Limb" columns...
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