I’m Glad You Finally Made it to Europe, Barack
By SusanUnPC on July 24, 2008 at 1:30 PM in Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Germany, John McCain, Joseph Wilson
Jake Tapper’s story today is Obama On Tonight’s Berlin Speech: “A Crapshoot”. Last week, the razor-sharp Tapper zeroed in on a story that we’ve covered here at No Quarter many times. Joe Wilson, Larry Johnson and I, as well as other writers, have all noted that Obama has failed to DO HIS JOB as Chair of the Subcommittee on European Affairs (including NATO) — holding no hearings and making no trips to Europe during his tenure as chair because, as he admitted in a primary debate, he’s been too busy running for president:
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del., had previously told Meet the Press that "the reason Obama didn’t hold a hearing on NATO, I chair the committee. Every one of those committee hearings are held at full committee."
But today [July 17, 2008] Biden decided to take his defense of Obama one step further, writing to DeMint that there have been plenty of hearings on European Affairs, they’ve just been held at the "full committee level."
"On the particular issue of NATO’s mission in Afghanistan," Biden wrote, "We have held three Full Committee hearings in the last 22 months: one under Senator Lugar’s chairmanship (September 21, 2006: “From Coalition to ISAF Command in Afghanistan: The Purpose and Impact of the Transition”), and two undermine (March 8, 2007: “Afghanistan: Time for a New Strategy?” and January 21, 2008: “Afghanistan: A Plan to Turn the Tide?”). At all three of these hearings, we were fortunate enough to have the expert testimony—in addition to other witnesses, both in and out of government— of former NATO commander and Supreme Allied Commander-Europe, Gen. James R. Jones (USMC, ret.)."
But Biden’s letter brought attention to the fact that Obama did not attend two of those three hearings — and for the third, on March 8, 2007, Obama only asked one question, one unrelated to Afghanistan. …
Don’t miss how Jake Tapper knows that Obama asked only one question, irrelevant to Afghanistan:
How do I know the latter fact? From an August 2007 press release from Biden himself, when he was running for president.
"BIDEN CAMPAIGN CONGRATULATES SEN. OBAMA FOR JOHNNY-COME-LATELY POSITION," it read. Noting that at the March 2007 hearing, "Sen. Obama asked one question that was unrelated to Taliban or Afghanistan."
Thanks, Joe!
…
Maureen Dowd notes an unintended consequence of Mr. Obama’s popularity in Europe that will create consternation among voters in the U.S.:
Even if Obama is treated as a superstar by W.-weary Europeans, some Obama-wary Americans may wonder what he’s doing there, when they can’t pay for gas, when the dollar is the Euro’s chew toy, when Bud is going Belgian and when the Chrysler Building has Arab landlords.
“I don’t know that people in Missouri are going to like seeing tens of thousands of Europeans screaming for The One,” a McCain aide snarked to The Politico.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
by 
* (Included in the 
* 
.by David Fredosso who wrote 2008's 
- You'll have access to 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books, as well as ultra-fast Web browsing with Amazon Silk -- faster than iPad. Full e-mail and document access and a keyboard. Fire can transmit what is on your screen onto a connected TV or monitor without an accessory. It runs Flash (iPad doesn't). 
