Siun, a debate is about the only place where candidates like Hillary and Obama can be asked this question directly and where they can be asked to answer it again when we get hit with their canned replies.

I can just hear Hillary saying she will start bringing troops home the first day she is in office, but for the rest saying that she needs to keep her options open, etc. and refusing to being tied down on numbers or deadlines.

It would be great if someone could suggest Oprah pose that question to Obama until his audience gets a satisfactorily detailed specific answer.

Nailing those two (Obama & Hillary) down to details is about like nailing Jell* to a wall.

it’ll be interesting to see how oprah fares as she campaigns for obama…. i’m waiting for the wingers to get in gear to begin attacking ms oprah…i can almost hear them starting…..

Republicans might, but I can’t imagine any Democrats saying anything about her. We believe in free speech and free association of people. She’s great to be bringing more people into the process, to support a candidate and vote.

Lots of wealthy people have been doing this kind of thing. In her case there’s just lots more publicity about it. It’s not a whole lot different than the unions ‘throwing’ their support to a candidate.

So Keith is talking about the huge fundraiser she is having for Obama. Star Power politics. What do you think of this? She sure has a big following.

Do you think the bin Laden tape is likely to come out *just* before Obama speaks to potential donors?

How does Obama overcome that stupid “Osama Obama” meme?

Anyway, aside from that, Obama is a bright guy who is doing quite well and recovering very quickly from his mistakes. I wonder, in these tense times, if he’s going to slip up or not. And, what’s more, once he’s established that pattern I would always wonder, if he became president, if it was going to continue. How can he overcome that ‘reputation’ as ‘not ready for prime time’?

With the Democrats rendered useless, maybe the Republicans can stop the Republicans.

The Dems aren’t “useless”, they just need a little push and direction and the feeling they’ll be rewarded by their electorates.

Don’t count on the Republicans. It’s hard to tell what they’ll do. Right now it appears they’re fragmenting and separating from Bush, but in a tight moment they might rally round and appear totally unified.

We need to get the public to recognize we’re with ‘em and use that to beat on the Republicans both now in Congress and in campaigns.

I was in the military between 1968 and 1972. Fortunately I never had to go to Vietnam. … Unfortunately that happiness was tempered by the completely unorganized withdraw of troops. There was no plan to get them all out. That is why I say a solid plan should be created first. So the clusterf*ck of the Vietnam withdrawal will not be repeated. And more troops can get out safely. And possibly salvaging some of our equipment to be used here at home for Katrina recovery or when needed for a real emergency.

I agree with you completely.

Maybe what we need is someone with that Vietnam withdrawal experience to handle this one, when the end comes.

more on Dodd:
Sen. Dodd bill would reform mortgage practices

By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch

“The need for national legislation is imperative given the millions of families that face the possible loss of their homes.”

Woo hoo! Senator Dodd is moving in the right direction.

I would hope, of course, people read all the fine print to ensure it’s everything we would want.

We might even have suggestions to improve the bill.

I can’t believe that we are being treated to a new Osama video. The Anniversary Edition.

I just cannot believe he is still alive. I would be SHOCKED if he really releases a new video.

Why? He doesn’t think he’s the bad guy, after all.

Actually, I’m kind of looking forward to it. Osama always tells you what he’s going to do, then he does it. I’d kind of like to know.

Aside: was on the same call as Christina and have found the same thing – you just can’t get a straight answer from these people on residual forces. And I say that of all 3 – Clinton/Obama/Edwards – even Dodd. I like Edwards and Dodd, at least a lot, but they’re blowing smoke on this one.

james @ 166

There are at least a couple of commenters here who are so fucking full of themselves that the overwhelming task in front of us in fixing this country that might seem insurmountable to some is judged to be invalid because…..they have a fucking country to take back.

I have no objection to you feeling whatever you want, or talking about it. But what I responded to was not you being pessimistic about the current state of affairs or seemingly insurmountable problems, but declaring that no matter who is elected next year, nothing is going to change.

And furthermore, I didn’t say that you shouldn’t say that, I just said I found it to be a defeatist sentiment, and wanted no part of it.

I’m sorry if it was depression or despair rather than defeatism (a little hard to tell in this medium) but I fail to see how it is being “full of myself” to refuse to dismiss what we’ve accomplished in a short time compared to how long our opponents took to get where they are.

You aren’t even responding to the person you so cavalierly dismissed with your trite remark.

And if you think rolling over and spreading for Bush, which is basically what the Democrats have done since they came into the majority, is an accomplishment than I guess we really have reached the point of lowered expectations.

Jonathan is the person you tossed to the side of the road. He and a few of us here have done our time fighting, I mean really fighting, and we don’t need you to disregard our disappointment at realizing that what we fought for has come to this current state of affairs.

And I must thank you for allowing me to have thoughts and to actually vent them here. That’s mighty big of you.