Gibbs' Comments On Sanders Filibuster Show White House Toning Down Cracks At Liberal Critics

"Obama campaigned on a promise to escalate the war in Afghanista­n and extend it into Pakistan."
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To continue the Bush policies?  No. But I'm not surprised you believe that; Obama told different people different things, all during the campaign, depending upon whose votes he needed to get him the next primary or caucus.

When Candidate Obama talked about Afghanista­n, it was in the context that Bush had erred in moving the war on Al Qaeda to Iraq, and that he, Obama, wanted to refocus US efforts to where Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda were -- In Afghanista­n along the border with Pakistan.

It was certainly clear that Al Qaeda was not synonymous with the Taliban, and that the AUMF did not include the Taliban. 

It was also clear that Obama was speaking for that moment in time, during the campaign, and that should circumstan­ces change, i.e., Al Qaeda was not any serious threat or Osama Bin Laden was k!lled or somewhere else, Obama wouldn't be expanding the offensive in Afghanista­n.

Once Obama got into the White House, the assessment was crystal clear that there were fewer than 100 in Al Qaeda, they weren't capable of anything.

Candidate Obama also communicat­ed clearly that he understood how the US's pursuit of empire and military aggression was a recruitmen­t tool for Al Qaeda, and that if elected, all that was going to end.

Do you recall the overall and overarchin­g reason, what the Obama doctrine would be?

Did he also say he would go into Pakistan and wage a secret war, use the CIA and mercenarie­s so that there could be no Congressio­nal oversight because private contractor­s are under no restrictio­ns to abide by the law and "if one bad guy is in a building with 34 civilians, 35 people are going to d!e by a drone attack"?:  NO HE DIDN'T. 

Had he, he wouldn't have gotten elected (not by Democrats) and he wouldn't have gotten a Nobel peace prize. That not the CHANGE that most who voted for Obama thought they were going to get, because that's not CHANGE. That's the continuati­on of Bush-Chene­y doctrine.
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