From Rasmussen Reports, "59% see Russian Invasion of Georgia as Threat" by Scott Rasmussen
The pollster reports:
Just over half (51%) believe that John McCain is the best equipped of the two major presidential candidates to handle a similar crisis in the future, while 36% believe Barack Obama is the better of the two to deal with this kind of situation. The two men are locked in a close race as measured by the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of Americans say they have been following news stories on Russia attacking Georgia.
76% is a lot. So will there be some political fallout here? Barack Obama's tepid initial statement on the matter was a remarklably hideous thing:
"I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war."
Condemning the violence was awful brave. It would have been braver still if Obama had actually condemned the violence-maker. Or perhaps Obama thinks he deserves bonus points for condemning the violence "strongly." After all, words matter. 24 hours later, Obama finally butched up and belatedly condemned Russia's actions. But this corrective action only served to highlight the flaccidity of his initial response.
Obama could have used the occasion to show he is indeed ready to lead by offering a muscular statement at the git-go. This was such an obvious play given the concerns surrounding Obama's experience and readiness to lead, Allah suggests the failure to execute shows that Obama was napping in more than just a literal sense during his Hawaiian holiday.
But here's another theory - the initial reaction showed Obama's true nature. Obama's every instinct is to avoid action and to avoid controversy. We saw that with his maladroit non-handling of the Jeremiah Wright situation. Obama spent 14 months wishing that problem would just go away. Only when his campaign was mortally threatened and had already suffered serious damage did he act.
This fondness for inaction causes Obama to straddle every issue imaginable. If you look at his first statement, his reluctance to take sides leaps out. He wanted to straddle the issue and condemn the violence. And why not? Everyone hates violence. Besides, since Russia blamed Georgia for the violence and vice versa, both nations could reasonably infer that Obama's sympathies rest with them.
Exit question: Does anyone have a clue how President Obama would handle such a crisis in the future? Partial answer: I bet Vladimir Putin thinks he does.
