Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Obama's Foreign-Policy Problem

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1695803,00.html

In the column by Jay Newton, he discusses that many of the candidates do not believe Obama has much experience with foreign policy. Clinton then criticized Obama by saying, “Your four years of living in Indonesia do not allow you to get a world prospective when you were only 10 years old.” I think that Obama is a leader and will be able to handle the complex world today. Supporters of Obama do believe that having his younger abroad study in Indonesia does give him credit for living and experiencing a whole new culture as a young child.

“The day I'm inaugurated, not only will the country look at itself differently, but the world will look at America differently," said Obama. Obama does know a lot about foreign affairs and he does have family living in Kenya where his Dad is from. It does not sound like Obama is a stranger to foreign affairs. Two of Clinton’s volunteers on the campaign were fired for forwarding emails saying, “Obama was practicing Muslim as a young child,” which is a lie. Furthermore, this can explain his cultural background. He has been around Africa and Indonesia as a child, making him a more popular U.S politician to foreign countries.

I do not think people should doubt Obama and his credentials on foreign policy. It looks to me like he does have more experience than Clinton, even though she spent seven years on the Senate Arms Service Committee. Living abroad gives Obama a perspective that not a lot of candidates have experienced and will help him out when he needs to make world decisions. Having abroad experience will lead more voters to be drawn towards Obama.

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