Recently there has been much-to-do about a speech that Obama gave calling for a civilian national security force. The YouTube video has been viewed nearly a million times, fueled by Representative Paul Broun’s comments on Obama being a Marxist. If one spends about 3 minutes researching this, they find the full context of this quote which I’ve included below. Once again, this type of fear-mongering has no place in politics. I realize this is a staple of Presidential politics, but can’t we please grow up? I, like many other Republicans, am concerned about Obama’s lack of military experience from both personnel and strategic perspectives. However, perhaps we should do a little more fact checking before embarrassing ourselves.
YouTube Video:
Obama, July 2, Colorado Springs, CO: “[As] president I will expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots [from 75,000] and make that increased service a vehicle to meet national goals, like providing health care and education, saving our planet and restoring our standing in the world, so that citizens see their effort connected to a common purpose.
People of all ages, stations and skills will be asked to serve. Because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem – they are the answer. So we are going to send more college graduates to teach and mentor our young people. We’ll call on Americans to join an energy corps, to conduct renewable energy and environmental clean-up projects in their neighborhoods all across the country.
We will enlist our veterans to find jobs and support for other vets, and to be there for our military families. And we’re going to grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy. We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set.
We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. We need to use technology to connect people to service. We’ll expand USA Freedom Corps to create online networks where American can browse opportunities to volunteer. You’ll be able to search by category, time commitment and skill sets. You’ll be able to rate service opportunities, build service networks, and create your own service pages to track your hours and activities.”
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