WASHINGTON (CNN) – Barack Obama is contrasting Iraq’s budget surplus and America’s budget deficit as one of the reasons a change is needed in Washington.
The Senator from Illinois makes the comments in today’s Democratic Radio Address. It's the first time he’s delivered the weekly address since becoming his party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
“We learned this week was that the Iraqi government now has a $79 billion budget surplus thanks to their windfall oil profits. And while this Iraqi money sits in American banks, American taxpayers continue to spend $10 billion a month to defend and rebuild Iraq. That’s right. America faces a huge budget deficit. Iraq has a surplus,” says Obama.
“Now, Senator McCain promises to continue President Bush’s open-ended commitment to the war in Iraq, while refusing to pressure Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country. Let me be clear: we are well over five years into a war in a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.
"Our brave men and women in uniform have completed every mission they’ve been given. Our country has spent nearly a trillion dollars in Iraq, even as our schools are under funded, our roads and bridges are crumbling, and the cost of everything from groceries to a gallon of gas is soaring,” adds Obama in the remarks, which were released prior to delivery.
Obama says in the address that “the American people are worse off than they were eight years ago” and that the choice the presidential election between him and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain could not be clearer.
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