I just want to point out that Obama's mother worked in Pakistan in the 1980's.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOOwMgWY_VIA&refer=home

...So what?

Are we supposed to care that he has traveled around? Is this really a story?

Hey Greg.

Check Politico. Ben Smith pondered the same thing until someone pointed out to him (as I'm pointing out to you) that Obama's mother worked in Pakistan for a year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOOwMgWY_VIA&refer=home

About 2/3 of the way down in the article you will find the following:

In 1986, Dunham did a one-year development project in Pakistan. That year, mother and daughter took a two-week journey along the old Silk Route to China.

Glad I could help. We wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea that he was a secret muslim or anything, right?

And? I'm still waiting for the punchline..

What an ego! Put aside Spring break in Pakistan (although it would be interesting to know who paid for the trip). This is a guy who has never run a committee, or sub-committee, relating to foreign policy matters. He has spent a year or so in the Senate before running for President. His surrogates in this area are rookies/academics prone to mistakes. But he knows all there is to know. He had better pray that someone like Sam Nunn or George Mitchell returns his phone calls (if) (when) he is looking for a VP.

This strikes me as something Fox News would lead with. "BREAKING! Obama traveled to Pakistan in college!!" trying to feed the "Obama is a Muslim" and "Obama attended radical madrassa" story lines.

So why is TPM even writing about this, with a headline like that, as if this is some big deal, as if this even matters? It is really disconcerting the more I think of it.

Evidently, his mother lived/worked in Pakistan in the early 1980's. Per Ben Smith's blog.

And Obama traveling through Pakistan in the 80s is a problem how?

His mother was running micro finance assistance to women back then so maybe this was a family visit?

The innuendo in this posting is too crazy to be believed.

ZOMG! SEKRIT MUSSLEMAN!!!!

So, now we know the reason behind passportgate.

Pakistan, during 80's & 90's, was much more stable and moderate country than now. And His mother was working there.

Greg, your last post proudly stated the latest Clinton conference call was smear free.

Sure, why not ? Now that they have you doing that smear job, they don't need Mark Penn anymore.

Way to go Greg...towards Drudge, MyDD, Hillaryis44 et.al.

Josh, I am sure you are very happy the way TPM is progressing more towards right wing blog.

Is travelling to Pakistan supposed to be bad? Is this supposed to be news or interesting? I should hope that anyone running for president would have visited Pakistan this late in the game. I'd expect a Senator to already have done that. That he went in his youth is something most Americans will never have the opportunity to do. Of course, it helped that his mother was working there at the time.

WTF?

Is Greg out of his mind?

..We're waiting for you to update your story that his mother worked in Pakistan Greg.

I guess the headline "Obama travels to visit Mother in Pakistan, hugs and kisses likely" doesn't quite have the same impact, does it?

I think the question on all of our minds is exactly how much sniper fire Obama dodged while visiting Pakistan.

Actually, can I admit that I don't even get the innuendo here? I am struggling to find a story in this post.

Is the issue that he feels "too" confident with foreign policy/relations because he has lived in/traveled to a lot of other countries? Confidence seems like a good thing in this arena.

Is it specifically Pakistan that is an issue?

He seems to be comparing himself to Clinton and McCain in terms of the type of experiences he has had in foreign countries. Is this wrong? I like that he has personal/family ties to the more everyday nuances of some other countries. Adds to his broad mindedness, I would imagine.

I know that living somewhere...or even staying for a week in ordinary accommodations...is MUCH different than getting the *five star* political tour.

Am I thick? I don't get the controversy. In the early 90's one of my kid's room mates traveled to Pakistan where his parents worked for Sate Dept.

On work (or accompanying my husband in his) I've gone abroad every couple of years, including a recent stay in a Muslim country. It has made me understand the world much better. This is a plus? Right?

What an ego! Put aside Spring break in Pakistan (although it would be interesting to know who paid for the trip). This is a guy who has never run a committee, or sub-committee, relating to foreign policy matters. He has spent a year or so in the Senate before running for President. His surrogates in this area are rookies/academics prone to mistakes. But he knows all there is to know. He had better pray that someone like Sam Nunn or George Mitchell returns his phone calls (if) (when) he is looking for a VP.

About as much experience as a lot of presidents, and more than many.

That's a straw man and has been since Clinton first raised it.

Obama should make this into an ad and play it in every single primary going forward starting with PA.

It clearly delineates how he knows what Sunni and Shia are, as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4fWEbUpIq8

"Late Update: Ben Smith notes that Obama's mother worked in Pakistan in the 1980s."

And you should have added in your update: "...and therefor probably explains his trip rather than innuendo that he is a secret Muslim or something like that!"

This was a classic Drudge attack! Headline says something terrible that the article it links to doesn't really back up. Proud?

"I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee...."

This helps explain the amazing foresight shown in his November, 2002 interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXzmXy226po

AND???

Whose "talking points" are these??? Why don't you just say that you are a Clinton supporter??

These is absolutely outrageous. I am not quite sure why TPM's postings on Election Central have dengerated into a Fox News ticker link, but it is sad to see this site become...

this.

You know all of this emphasis on Obama's experiences of having lived in the world is a transparent effort to make Obama "foreign" and to ignite(re) doubts that he is "loyal," Christian, or "American."
Too bad. The quality here (as well as the Huffington Postwith its misleading/sensationalist headlines) is absymal.

By the way: The crap media/blogs beat you to this, Greg: We have been through this Pakistan madness before. Around December or January, I think. The bright side to this is that I think the country is ahead of you and your ilk on this one.

Also by the way: Your little "at least he went" ending sentence about McCain and Memphis was clearly yet another swipe at Obama. But you know: Did you bother to read his speech in Indiana?

Of course you did, because you took yet another opp to swipe again, suggesting that he "links" his efforts to King (...the implication being that Obama has delusions of grandeur and compares himself to King).

Is it possible (like Fox) that your readership is declining, so this site is reduced to this Pakistan stuff??

But I will calm down. The closer we get to the end of this race the more I should expect these kinds of headlines.

He has been to Pakistan as a college student (visiting his mother, according to this site) but, as the WSJ notes, "Last year he blundered by publicly declaring he would intervene in Pakistan if that nation's government didn't cooperate in the war on terrorism." Maybe he should re-think the importance of having a qualified individual with foreign policy experience as his (possible) running mate.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120718473419985253.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I visited Canada once. I attended secret 'hockey camps' where I was indoctrinated into the ice cult. I even had my hair cut into the 'mullet' style. I returned to the US a changed man, no longer able to happily watch baseball or eat Cracker Jacks.

GREG: Your headline reeks ignorance.
Can yoi tell us the madrassa he spent his time at?

Really sad; Officially pathetic.

Greg, We are still awaiting your usual smug. self-important justification. Don't be shy. Give it a go.

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t46691.html

More on that Bayh story.

I was glad to get the link that told of Barack's mother's work for women in underdeveloped places. Reading of what that remarkable woman did with her life, I would put her experiences and helpfulness to women up against Hillary Clinton's speech in China any day of the week.
Hillary rode her husband's coattails and on the taxpayers' dime to travel the world for photo ops and speeches. Barack's mom, Ann, traveled to live within poor cultures and to quietly work day after day using her education and talent and heart to make impoverished women's lives better.

I have a 'Women for Obama' bumper sticker on my car. Reading of his mother's life and work suddenly gives that a broader meaning.

If you have bothered to read Obama's 2002 speech on Iraq, you will know why he is justified in claiming better judgment than his opponents.

The brilliance of that speech is not that he opposed going to war, but that he articulates in an extraordinarily concise and precise way WHY going to war was not a good idea.

It was brilliant not for it's rhetorical flourishes or style of delivery (most people of course have only been able to see a small portion captured on film). It is brilliant for it's intelligence, it's understanding of the risks we faced in going to Iraq, it's acknowledgment of the important questions that should have been answered before the war.

Both McCain and Clinton excuse themselves by saying the implementation of the war resolution was botched by Bush. Who could have known they would do what they did, they say. Obama by contrast, anticipated exactly what could go wrong if no one asked ahead of time how the plan would be implemented.

Read the speech, and tell me one person who understood more clearly what could go wrong in Iraq than Barack Obama. Just one person.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama's_Iraq_Speech

Next Hillary will come out with a totally probable story about having hunted Bin Laden in the hills of Pakistan, narrowly escaping a shoulder fired grenade attack.

gotalife, traveling around with a first lady's entourage is hardly 'experiencing' a country. Seems much like touring the Grand Canyon or Canadian Rockies via a prepackaged bus tour... and never having disembarked to buy a soda or use a (gasp!) public restroom.

One has to breathe the air, smell the smells and actually come into contact with something NOT contrived to have garnered any 'experience' in their travels.

God, I'd hate to be a public figure trying to travel, it's only fun (and real) in anonymity.

BTW, has anyone vetted Hillary's claim to have experienced a 'slime-line' in an Alaskan fish processing plant (refer to stump speech in Wyoming). I'm here in Alaska, and I've never heard of such a thing. In Wyoming no less? A landlocked state with no commercial fishery that I've ever heard of... why would they be impressed with such a 'fish-story'?

Greg, since you shamelessly and gleefully quoted HuffPO on this smear story, how about taking a dekko at this HuffPO story by Bill Moyers on journalistic ethics ?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-moyers/on-journalism_b_95444.html

We journalists are, of course, obliged to cover the news, but our deeper mission is to uncover the news that powerful people would prefer to keep hidden. (sic)

Given how many times he's said he'd be willing to bomb Pakistan, that must have been one crappy trip.

Anyway, it's all beginning to make sense now.

In the early 80s, an American named Barack Hussein Obama travels to a country that serves as the CIA's arms conduit to the Mujahideen.

Later on, he joins a Radical Black Nationalist Church. Given the FBI's history of infaltrating Black Churches, and Obama's connection to the CIA, can this be a coincidence?

Now, large sums of money are showing-up in his campaign accounts, as if by magic.

It's funny, if Hillary brags about her experiences, she's "gutsy" and CinC material.

If Obama brags, he's "arrogant".

I wonder why?

I hear Greg's next breaking story is that Obama just took a big dump. News at 11.

From Greg's update: "Some of you have complained that I could have done a better job explaining that the context here was Obama's discussion of his national security credentials, which I think is a fair objection. "

Bullshit. This story plays into the secret Muslim smear. That's how Greg wrote it. It's the ONLY interpretation and the only context.

The headline is "Obama: I traveled to Pakistan in College" not "Obama: Foreign Travel Equals Foreign Policy Experience."

This is really disappointing and really sloppy.

From Greg's update: "Some of you have complained that I could have done a better job explaining that the context here was Obama's discussion of his national security credentials, which I think is a fair objection. "

Bullshit. This story plays into the secret Muslim smear. That's how Greg wrote it. It's the ONLY interpretation and the only context.

The headline is "Obama: I traveled to Pakistan in College" not "Obama: Foreign Travel Equals Foreign Policy Experience."

This is really disappointing and really sloppy.

Quoting Barack Obama -

"I think a lot of people assume that might be some sort of military thing to make me look more Commander-in-Chief-like. Ironically, this is an area--foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain."

That's really interesting to me... I see where he's coming from, but what he needs to overcome is the *perception* of his lack of foreign policy experience. I've been thinking someone like Anthony Zinni (if his unspoken positions on a number of social issues are compatible and he accepts being drafted) would be a good choice. But Barack doesn't seem to agree.

Hmmm.... This has me analyzing his potential choice for a running mate in a whole new way...

When you start an article "The Obama campaign says it's not disputing this account," you're pretty clearly implying that there's something unfavorable in the account that the campaign would want to dispute. That's why you got hit with the smear accusation.

The whole thing could have been avoided with a less loaded opening sentence.

So you've been?

So he went to Pakistan when he was in college. What was that, 20+ years ago? The only reason it's an issue here, is because someone found out, and the campaign is trying to get ahead of it by coming out with a statement before some fine upstanding reporter ambushes Obama with a question. BTW, I'm still a Clinton supporter, and it doesn't matter to me.

"I would like somebody who knows about a bunch of stuff that I'm not as expert on," he said, "

Still trying to figure out what he Is an expert on.

" Ironically, this is an area--foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain."

Wow. Arrogance and Delusions of Grandeur. Sounds a lot like Bush.

.., Obama spews.... He spews

and you accuse me of hating.

You're such a hypocrite and just like a Repug in that - you project your own feelings onto others.

I can tell you hate the man because you accuse other people of hating your candidate and you accuse me of that when I don't ever say things like "arrogant rookie spews..." Most of the time I call her Sen Clinton. You have never been able to point to anything I've posted that was hateful in a personal way about her. But you do it constantly about Obama and then whine that we're hateful.

You are such a hypocrite.

By the way, what does "dispupting" mean?

I mean really, do you guys have editors? For serious...

This is the same bullshit that Bill Clinton faced about his visit to Moscow during the year he was a Rhodes scholar.