Length: 5:15
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Michael discusses Joe Biden's speech from last night, and what Biden offers in the line of foreign policy experience. He's still looking for specifics, although it's not likely that the American people really want to hear the unpleasant side of bringing the troops home -- and what politician in their right mind (an oxymoron if ever there was one) would be so blunt during a campaign. Well, at least we know Michael will never run for office -- he's too insistent on telling the truth!
(Oh, and I agree with Mr. Night Owl -- they are doing these interviews WAY too early in the morning!)
KIRAN
CHETRY: Well, last night it was his number two,
Senator Joe Biden, accepting the vice presidential
nomination in front of a cheering convention. Biden
used his speech to talk up the party platform and to
tear down rival John McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:
Barack Obama knows that any country that out-teaches
us today will out-compete us tomorrow. That's why
he'll invest in the next generation of teachers, and
why he'll make college more affordable. That's the
change we need.
Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by
$2,500 for the average family, and, at long last,
deliver affordable, accessible health care for every
American.
Now, after six long years, the administration and the
Iraqi government are on the verge of setting a date
to bring our troops home. John McCain was wrong. And
Barack Obama was right.
Again -- again, and again, on the most important
national security issues of our time, John McCain was
wrong, and Barack Obama has been proven right.
These are extraordinary times. This is an
extraordinary election. The American people are
ready. I am ready. Barack is ready. This is his time.
This is our time. This is America's time.
God bless America and may God protect our troops.
Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And after his speech Barack Obama came out on
stage to greet the delegates. And this was his first
appearance at the convention. People were very
excited about that.
You know, we just saw Joe Biden hitting his rival
hard on national security issues. But what did Biden
offer last night in terms of foreign policy? Here to
help us take a critical look is CNN's Baghdad
correspondent Michael Ware. He just got back as well
from the Republic of Georgia and gives us his
perspective.
Thanks for being with us. You know, it's interesting
because there are things that just sort of become a
roll off the tongue as you're covering the
conventions and the debates and really the race in
itself. And a lot of people have said these foreign
policy credentials of Joe Biden. How is that playing
though with some of the foreign leaders that you've
talk to in terms of whether or not he has the right
ideas for big things like Iran and Iraq?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, ideas or not,
the relative value of his policies or not, there is
at least one thing that I know that assuages foreign
leaders and foreign governments. They know Joe Biden.
He's a known quantity to them. So agree, disagree
whether American policy is assisting, say, a
particular nation: it doesn't matter. At least they
know what they're getting. They know that they can
engage in discourse.
CHETRY: They don't want any surprises.
WARE: Well, I'm sure Senator Biden -- or Vice
President Biden, should that happen -- will always
have a surprise or two up his sleeve. But
nonetheless, he's a known player, he's been around
the block, and he's someone that people can
confidently feel they can engage with. And, like, I
bumped into him in Pakistan, in Baghdad --
CHETRY: He's been around.
WARE: -- and in Georgia, so he's been around almost
as much as we have.
CHETRY: Two interesting things, though. He loudly
criticized Bush's foreign policy in Iraq. He was
against the surge.
WARE: Yup.
CHETRY: And he also was for -- he put forth this plan
of partitioning Iraq. Those are two things that
haven't really turned out to be something that Iraq
was into, either partitioning or drawing down troops
at a time when they felt they needed more.
WARE: Right, that's right. So he's always had his
view of what should happen in Iraq. Now, some of his
policies, you could eagerly debate. And like last
night in his speech, I guess a political convention
is not the place where you expect to hear detail, but
I was struck by the fact that there was nothing with
regard to the foreign policy issues that was new or
gave us any more sense of where this ticket will be
going. I mean, to say that, yes, Senator Obama was
right and McCain was wrong, Obama was right and
McCain was wrong. But then not to say, well, here is
something new.
For example, saying, I would love to hear, right,
we're going to draw down our troops but we know that
that has made Iran stronger, that we know that we
have terrified our Arab allies and we know that we
left the Sunnis vulnerable in Iraq, who we've built
into a militia and now, once we leave, we'll make
them more vulnerable again to al Qaeda. But this is
how we'll manage that. That's what we didn't hear.
CHETRY: You want to hear more answers, more details
about what happens after the withdrawal takes place.
WARE: Absolutely. Right. The focus is on getting the
boys home. And look, who can blame anyone. But no one
is talking about the consequences and no one is
talking about how we'll fix that. So there's a price
tag to bringing the boys home. Let's hear them talk
about how we're going to pay that.
CHETRY: All right. Michael Ware, great to see you, as
always. Thanks.
WARE: So early. Thank you, Kiran.
CHETRY: It's not early. It's 8:30 East Coast.
WARE: It doesn't feel like it
CHETRY: We're more than two and a half hours.
Michael, thanks.
WARE: Thanks, Kiran.
CHETRY: He's a night owl. What can you do?