The Attacks Obama Passed Up

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama avoided aggressively engaging John McCain in the debate tonight on two potentially touchy issues--use of torture in detainee interrogations and education benefits for veterans. Clearly, these are delicate areas that any candidate would want to avoid engaging on in a debate against a renown and respected former POW, but on these two subjects, Senator McCain's record belies his debate claims.

McCain mentioned the subject of torture twice. "I have opposed the President on spending, on climate change, on torture of prisoner, on - on Guantanamo Bay," he said. Later he said, "We've got to make sure that we have people who are trained interrogators so that we don't ever torture a prisoner ever again." Whether or not McCain flip-flopped on torture is the subject of contentious debate. In February, at a time when Republican primary debates produced enthusiastic phrases like "double Guantanamo", McCain voted against a bill that would have restricted C.I.A. interrogators to the rules set out in the Army Field Manual. This vote clearly benefited him politically, since the Republican base was firmly united behind allowing interrogators to torture detainees. To call it a straight up flip-flop, however, is not exactly fair because, as McCain pointed out at the time, previous legislation bars the CIA from "cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment." The reason that the Democrats wanted the bill in the first place, however, was because the Bush administration would not characterize water boarding as torture or even stipulate that it met the "cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment" standard. They wouldn't characterize it at all, nor would they rule out use of the technique.

Despite McCain's clouded position on the issue, Barack Obama wisely gave McCain the benefit of the doubt and congratulated him for his original stance against torture. "I give Senator McCain great credit on the torture issue," Obama said, "for having identified that as something that undermines our long-term security."

Also during the debate, Senator McCain referred to his record of supporting veterans. "I know the veterans," McCain said, "I know them well, and I know that they know that I'll take care of them, and I've been proud of their support and their recognition of my service to the veterans."

He may know them well, but when it came to supporting them in the form of the new GI Bill, which passed in May of this year, John McCain was against it before he skipped a vote on it, which was before he took credit for it.Obama did attack McCain's position on the bill back then, saying, "I can't believe why he believes it is too generous to our veterans. There are many issues that lend themselves to partisan posturing, but giving our veterans the chance to go to college should not be one of them." McCain fired back immediately, challenging Obama's lack of military service. "I will not accept from Senator Obama," McCain said, "who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did."

Yet when it came time to vote for the GI Bill, despite being lobbyied by Wesley Clark, Jim Webb, Paul Rieckhoff and others for months, McCain did not show up. This did not stop the Senator from running on the accomplishment of a new GI Bill a month later at a town hall meeting. He was also given credit by President Bush for helping to get the bill passed when in reality McCain criticised the bill for giving members of the military what he characterized as an incentive to leave the service.

Arianna Huffington also noticed these issues going unanswered by Obama. "It was a bad night for reality," she wrote, "Did John McCain really try to reclaim the high ground on torture after having caved on the issue earlier in the year? And did he really profess his love for veterans after having fought against the new GI Bill?" Clearly Barack Obama has chosen his avenues for attack and is reluctant to get bogged down in any media generated controversies about military service. That may be the right thing to do politically, but he shouldn't count on anyone on TV pointing this stuff out for him.