MoveOn Moves Against Obama On Afghanistan

[Joanne98]

The progressive advocacy organization MoveOn.org formally opposed President Obama's troop surge strategy on Tuesday, calling it "wrong" and urging its five million members to call the White House to voice their displeasure.

The group's anti-escalation statement was long predicted. But the politics of it still seem noteworthy. MoveOn played an integral role in rallying grassroots support for Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. And it remains one of largest organizing, if not ideological, forces within the progressive community today.

"After talking to MoveOn members about this possibility for months, it's become clear what most of us think: This is wrong. Everyone knows that George W. Bush left a mess in Afghanistan, but escalation only deepens our involvement in a quagmire," the email reads.

"It'll cost the lives of thousands of American troops and Afghan civilians, and it won't make us safer. And with urgent priorities like health care, the climate crisis, and a struggling economy to tackle here at home, it simply does not make sense to divert billions more dollars to this war.

"More and more foreign policy experts are coming to the conclusion that military escalation is not going to solve the problem in Afghanistan. And the majority of Americans already oppose the war. So today the President needs to hear from those of us who disagree with his decision.
'Today, can you call the White House and tell the President that we want him to focus on bringing our troops home, not escalating our involvement in Afghanistan?'"

continued>>>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/01/moveon-moves-against-obam_n_375677.html

So it begins.

[Cant trust em]

1. Good for them.

Stick to your guns.

[peacebird]

2. Good.

[MNDemNY]

3. Bunch of fucking "haters" that's what they are. Would they rather have Bush back???

They make me so made that they will not obey Obama. Do they not think of the children?? :P :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :popcorn:

[AndrewP]

6. LOL. Yeah, Damn them for being liberal!

[Thickasabrick]

13. Got me....LOL......fire was getting ready to jump out of my keyboard!!! nt

[goldcanyonaz]

4. *yawn* Obama campaigned saying he would send more troops to Afghanistan.

[AndyA]

5. He campaigned on lots of things. Many of them were promises he hasn't kept.

Yet.

We'll see how he does, but he is losing support with every wrong step.

The war in Afghanistan will be Obama's war now. The blood of the dead will be on his hands, and if it's still a mess come election time, Democrats will suffer the consequences. All of us.

[NNN0LHI]

8. He already sent more troops to Afghanistan right after he took office

He never mentioned that this was going to be an ongoing thing that I can remember.

He is smart enough to know that when you realize you are stuck in a hole its best to stop digging.

I still think(hope?), that he will end up doing the right thing eventually.

Don

[Winterblues]

10. Obama compaigned by saying "Beginning on Day One"

"One Brigade a Month" :shrug: I guess he just goes for the war more so than the pull out from war...

[Thickasabrick]

15. Stupid defense. Bush campaigned that he would keep open Guantanamo....

did that mean we couldn't still protest that???

[bvar22]

27. Glad to see that you think the blood of our children is a YAWN issue.

It lets us know who you really are.

[ixion]

7. yeah!

glad to see them fired up about this. :woohoo: :applause:

[David Zephyr]

9. K&R.

!

[Mari333]

11. Guess his neocon friends forgot about the anti war movement

bad chess move, kiddo.

[Vidar]

12. Good!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Good. It's only going to get louder and stronger.

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. K&R!

[redqueen]

17. I thought MoveOn was just pro-Obama, pro-corporate astroturfing.

And it must be true, cause I read it on DU.

[Brother Buzz]

22. They were pro-Clinton before Obama was even on the radar.

The genesis was 'Censure (Clinton) and Move On' during the Clinton impeachment thing. It was a genuine grassroots operation back in those days and Astroturf® was only invented by the white-wing to counteract the huge success Move On and other progressive groups were achieving.

[bvar22]

28. Actually, they were.

This move by MoveOn represents a welcomed BREAK from the White House "Message Discipline Program".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-scahill/rahm-emanuels-think-tanke_b_185203.html

I can begin sending them donations again.

[ohheckyeah]

18. Did none of the people who voted for Obama

read his essay Renewing American Leadership? Maybe if you had you wouldn't be so shocked.

[Thickasabrick]

19. I don't think it's shocked - it's disappointment. He bends over

backwards to appease the opposition but he totally ignores his base.

[ohheckyeah]

24. What did you think he meant when he talked about

bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle to Republicans? He talked about it a lot during the campaign.

[Thickasabrick]

26. I'm ok with that when it's even - but it hasn't been. It's been 75/25 -

the 25 being his base.

[Bluenorthwest]

23. Hey, tens of thousands of people came to hear him speak

so he most certainly could have read his essay to them, or framed aggressive war in Afghanistan a centerpiece of his platform. He did no such things. He said 'hope' and 'change'. Thousands came to hear what he had to say. They came and they listened.

[ohheckyeah]

25. He also talked in the debates about more troops

in Afghanistan. Those tens of thousands of people could have taken some initiative to dig into his positions on many issues instead of going off in a daze of hope and change smoke.

[BooScout]

20. Big fucking Whoop.........

MoveOn should have thought about hoe things would 'change' when they endorsed Obama.

[MissDeeds]

21. K&R

:kick:

[bvar22]

29. K&R

I posted about the same thing this morning.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7136175

I'm very glad to see MoveOn break from the White House Message Discipline Program.



I can send them donations again.

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