Forum Name General Discussion: Primaries
Topic subject Obama's excuse for neglecting to hold ANY hearings on NATO or Afghanistan in committee he chairs
Topic URL
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4803653#48036534803653, Obama's excuse for neglecting to hold ANY hearings on NATO or Afghanistan in committee he chairs
Posted by bigtree on Wed Feb-27-08 08:39 PM
. . . is that he's only been chairman since January 2007, about the same time he began running hard for president.
Clinton camps highlights Obama's chairmanship
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign Wednesday pounced on Sen. Barack Obama's acknowledgment that he has yet to hold a substantive hearing since becoming chairman of a Senate subcommittee on Europe.
The admission during Tuesday night's Democratic debate offered a "glimpse of the real Barack Obama," and was emblematic of the Illinois senator's light record of results, the Clinton camp said in an e-mail.
Obama "did not hold a single oversight hearing because he was too busy running for president; the Barack Obama who spends his time talking about change you can believe in instead of change you actually can count on," the e-mail stated.
Clinton herself raised the issue at the debate in Cleveland.
'"He chairs the subcommittee on Europe. It has jurisdiction over NATO. NATO is critical to our mission in Afghanistan," she said. "He's held not one substantive hearing to do oversight, to figure out what we can do to actually have a stronger presence with NATO in Afghanistan."
In response, Obama noted he has only served as the committee's chairman since January of 2007, just when his presidential campaign was beginning — a fact the Clinton campaign's memo also highlighted.
"But by his own admission, he was too busy running for president to conduct a single substantive hearing of the committee he chairs," the memo stated. "So he would rather talk about what he would do rather than do it through the responsibility he had.”
For the record, Obama has held two hearings on ambassadorial nominations, but no oversight hearings.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/27/clinton-camps-highlights-obamas-chairmanship /
Sen. Clinton 2007 ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE HEARINGS
Senator Clinton Questions General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Iraq at Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing - September 11, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions General James Jones (Ret.) on the Findings of the Iraqi Security Forces Independent Assessment Commission - September 6, 2007
Nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Commits to Senator Clinton to Brief Congress on Redeployment Planning - July 31, 2007
Senate Armed Services Committee Approves Clinton Measures to Help Wounded Servicemembers - June 14, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions Lieutenant General Douglas Lute at Senate Armed Services Committee Confirmation Hearing - June 7, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions U.S. Central Commander Admiral William Fallon at Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing - May 3, 2007
Senator Clinton Calls for Closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Center - April 26, 2007
Clinton Presses Bush Pentagon on Contracting Abuses in Iraq - April 19, 2007
Remarks of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on State of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps - April 17, 2007
Clinton Continues to Fight for Our Troops & Veterans; Questions Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Officials About Treatment of Servicemembers and Veterans at Joint Armed Services-Veteran Affairs Committee Hearing - April 12, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions Air Force Leaders Over CSAR-X Contract Process - March 20, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions Army Generals About Living Conditions and Administration of Outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center - March 6, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions Administration and Military Officials About U.S. Policy in Afghanistan - March 1, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions Vice Admiral John M. McConnell, USN (ret), Director of National Intelligence and Lieutenant General Michael Maples, USA, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at a Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Worldwide Threats - February 27, 2007
Senator Clinton Raises Iraq and Darfur with Defense Secretary Gates and General Pace, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Administration's FY 08 Department of Defense Budget Request - February 6, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions General George Casey Jr. on His Nomination to be United States Army Chief of Staff - February 1, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions Admiral William J. Fallon, Nominee for Commander, United States Central Command - January 30, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions Defense Secretary William Perry, Ambassador Dennis Ross, and General Jack Keane on Iraq Strategy - January 25, 2007
Senator Clinton Questions General David Petraeus at Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing - January 23, 2007
links:
http://clinton.senate.gov/issues/nationalsecurity/sasc /