Barack Obama: Knucklehead?

The more he's forced to open his mouth on the campaign trail--taking positions on things instead of relying on a blank slate of a track record and his rock-star charisma, the less presidential Barack Obama appears.

SUNAPEE, N.H. - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn’t a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

“Well, look, if that’s the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now — where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife — which we haven’t done,” Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

(msnbc)

What a dingbat.

Senator Obama, there is no Talibanesque power poised to seize control in the Congo, and the Congo isn't a convenient stepping-stone to increased power for a belligerent nation like Iran.

If you don't understand that, you're not presidential material.

Obama has also been in the news illegitimately criticizing the President Bush's understanding of civilian oversight of the military. During that speech, he acknowledged that U.S. troops would need to remain in Iraq for quite some time.

Apparently, Obama doesn't really have much problem leaving U.S. troops in the midst of a civil war, eh? He'd rather have fewer U.S. troops there at the risk of greater sectarian strife (civil war) than put in more U.S. troops to prevent the sectarian strife (civil war).

Does that make sense?