From MyDD.com: "Does anyone else think that this is a problem?
Tonight, when confronted with the reality that Obama has not held any hearings vis-a-vis NATO involvement in Afghanistan as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Europe subcommittee chair, Obama's response was that he hadn't done so because he has been running for President since he became chair of the subcommittee.
Turns out that not only has Obama not held a hearing on this topic, but that he has held no hearings at all as chair of this subcommittee.
Now, I understand enough about the Congress to understand that some subcommittees meet very infrequently, but seriously...
There is the threat of a new civil war with the Kosovo situation. The illegal proliferation of "loose nukes" from Russia continues. Britain has a new Prime Minister. The European Union is experiencing difficult growing pains. Parts of the EU have been pioneers on climate change, etc.
And not one single hearing since Obama took over as chairman 14 months ago. Amazing.
His answer tonight was even more startling. He could have said that nothing extremely pressing required a hearing, or that the subcommittee membership had decided not to meet, but instead, his response, which was probably the true response, was that he had been too busy...running for President. Couple that with myrad important votes that he has missed in his Presidential endeavour, and I think that the people of Illinois should question whether they are getting their money's worth in their Senator."
