A comment Sen. Barack Obama made more than a year ago has emboldened America's enemies more than Osama bin Laden eluding capture for seven years, U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts said Monday.
Republicans Pitts and Ryan Aument, Lancaster County Clerk of Courts and an Iraq war veteran, seized on something the Democratic presidential candidate said during an August 2007 town hall meeting in New Hampshire, in which Obama called for sending more troops to Afghanistan.
"We've got to get the job done there, and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there," Obama said.
"Obama's statement will certainly demoralize our troops when they hear that," Pitts said Monday at a news conference at Lancaster GOP headquarters. "He does not understand the rules of engagement."
According to the Associated Press, at the time Obama uttered that statement, U.S.-led coalition forces had killed 286 Afghan civilians, while insurgents had killed 231. The situation had prompted Afghan President Hamid Karzai to address the problem with President Bush, the AP said.
When asked if America's failure to capture bin Laden and the recent resurgence of al-Qaida emboldened American enemies more than Obama's comment, Pitts said: "I don't think so."
"I think a comment by a future commander in chief, a wannabe commander in chief, is something our adversaries will tout, will exploit," Pitts said.
Meanwhile, Obama's campaign held a conference call with reporters Monday to draw attention to a Wall Street Journal article saying Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's health care plan would require $1.3 trillion cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.
"You have to wonder about what John McCain and his running mate, what their priorities are for America," said Sen. Bob Casey Jr., a Pennsylvania Democrat supporting Obama.
About 2.2 million seniors and 1 million children in Pennsylvania would be hurt by the cuts, Casey said in an MSNBC article. "What this health care plan indicates is that John McCain is out of touch with what Americans are going through," Casey wrote.
With the race for the White House entering its final month, Republican and Democratic campaigns in Pennsylvania appeared to be heading down different pathways. Franklin & Marshall College political science professor Steve Medvic said he wasn't surprised at the GOP's efforts to refocus voters' attention. "When the campaign is about Obama, they do much better than when it's about the issues," Medvic said.
The McCain campaign is reeling after three weeks of devastating economic developments that bolstered Obama's support among voters. McCain's campaign needs to find a way to put Obama on the defensive the way it did during the summer, when it released ads characterizing Obama as a "celebrity," Medvic said.
He said Pitts' criticism of Obama "folds into a broader set of questions they are going to raise about whether (Obama) is patriotic enough, whether he's American enough."
Obama has stretched his lead among the state's registered voters to an average of 9.4 percent after spending much of September virtually tied with McCain, according to an analysis by RealClearPolitics.com. A Franklin & Marshall College poll released last week showed about half of registered Pennsylvania voters consider the economy the most important issue, compared to 5 percent who cited foreign policy.
According to the poll, 46 percent of the state's voters believe Obama is better able to handle the economy, while 37 percent prefer McCain. But the same survey showed only 28 percent believe Obama has had enough experience.
Pitts, a Republican who will face Democrat Bruce Slater in November's election, said Obama was accusing American troops of war crimes.
Obama's comment "emboldens our enemies," Pitts said. "It makes it more difficult for our American heroes in uniform to complete the job."
E-mail: dpidgeon@lnpnews.com