Obama Urging Domestic Focus After Iraq - NYTimes.com
“The United States has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people,” he says in excerpts released early this evening, just before a speech from the Oval Office that is scheduled for 8 p.m. “We have persevered because of a belief we share with the Iraqi people — a belief that out of the ashes of war, a new beginning could be born in this cradle of civilization.”
But the excerpts suggested that Mr. Obama wanted to use the event, marking the end of the formal combat mission in Iraq, to pivot toward the economic problems that persist at home. In the excerpts, distributed by the White House as a way of setting the stage, there was no mention of the risks that remain in Iraq, nor of the hot war that continues in Afghanistan. These points could be expected to come in the full speech, as they were made by the president and his surrogates during the day.
“Today, our most urgent task is to restore our economy, and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work,” the excerpts said, with Mr. Obama calling this “my central responsibility as president.”
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