President Obama criticized the Republican presidential candidates who talk casually about war while on the campaign trail. “This is not a game,” Obama said, adding that if the candidates want to start a war with Iran, they should say so.
Here’s Obama’s full quote, from the rush transcript:
Now, what is said on the campaign trail, you know, those folks don’t have a lot of responsibilities. They are not commander-in-chief. And when I see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, I’m reminded of the costs involved in war. I’m reminded that the decision that I have to make, in terms of sending our young men and women into battle, and the impact that has on their lives, the impact it has on our national security, the impact it has on our economy. This is not a game, and there is nothing casual about it. And, you know, when I see some of these folks who have a lot of bluster and a lot of big talk, but when you actually ask them specifically what they would do, it turns out they repeat the things that we’ve been doing over the last three years. It indicates to me that that is more about politics than actually trying to solve a difficult problem. Now, the one thing that we have not done is we haven’t launched a war. If some of these folks think that it’s time to launch a war they should say so, and they should explain to the american people exactly why they would do that and what the consequences would be.
Obama also slammed pundits, saying “typically it’s not the folks who are popping off who pay the price, it’s these incredible men and women in uniform and their families who pay the price.”
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