true, a paraphrase of his position, but no less accurate for that. [rquoter]Obama Backtracks On Osama Remember Barack Obama's famous attack on John McCain, that McCain wasn't willing to go to the cave where Osama bin Laden was hiding: "John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives." Or during the October 7, 2008 debate: "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority." No more. Now, all we have to do is contain bin Laden to his cave, you know, the one McCain wouldn't go to: Barack Obama last night suggested that removing Osama bin Laden from the battlefield was no longer essential and that America's security goals could be achieved by merely keeping al-Qaeda "on the run". "My preference obviously would be to capture or kill him," he said. "But if we have so tightened the noose that he's in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives then we will meet our goal of protecting America."[/rquoter]
The purpose of his "we have to kill Osama" rhetoric was to emphasize a different foreign policy focus -- away from Iraq, and more on Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations that are explicitly threatening the US -- as well as to build himself up as a guy who won't create a "weak" America. Basically, he needed to differentiate his foreign policy from Bush II, but do so without looking weak. It was your typical politicking, and I was never much impressed by it. The failures of the Bush administration has nothing to do with them not killing Bin Laden. Obama was talking down to the American people when he chose to make that a talking point.
