Pragmatic Visionary and Tough

These are words Foreign Policy expert Lee Hamilton - top Democrat on the Sept. 11th Commission and co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group - used to describe the leadership of Senator Barack Obama.

Hamilton, who was chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee during his 30 year career in the House of Representatives, endorsed Obama for president today:

Lee Hamilton endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president Wednesday, praising his ability to transcend partisan division and calling his foreign policy outlook "pragmatic, visionary, and tough."
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"Barack Obama has the best opportunity to create a new sense of national unity and to transcend divisions within this country, not by ignoring them or smoothing them over, but by working together with candor and civility to meet our challenges,"

Barack Obama's foreign policy ideas are indeed a refreshing change from the reckless swaggering of the Bush/Cheney administration. Of all the candidates running for our highest office, Barack Obama is the only one to adopt John F. Kennedy's ideal of never negotiating out of fear, but never fearing to negotiate.

The presidency is not a pulpit of pride, as the other candidates would have us believe; no, the president must be willing to put themselves on the line on behalf of the American People. It is not the other way around - where our troops pay the price for the inability of world leaders to simply talk with each other.

Regardless if we agree with all these foreign leaders, the president must have the courage and humility to put themselves on the line first. Anything else would be prideful and cowardly.

And we've certainly had enough chicken-hawks in Washington these last few years. Its time for a change, and there is only one candidate who offers us a new direction in foreign policy leadership.