TISBURY — President Obama said the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq means “the war is ending’’ and Baghdad is in position “to chart its own course.’’
Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address yesterday to highlight Tuesday’s formal end to US combat missions in Iraq and remind people that he is keeping a promise he made as a candidate in the 2008 election.
Remaining troops will assume a backup and training role, a shift Obama will underscore with a visit to Fort Bliss, Texas, on Tuesday and then a prime-time speech to the nation from the Oval Office. The events come on Aug. 31, the date he set last year for the change in focus in the war.
US troop strength dropped below 50,000 this past week, a milestone also highlighted by the administration.
“In the months ahead, our troops will continue to support and train Iraqi forces, partner with Iraqis in counterterrorism missions, and protect our civilian and military efforts,’’ Obama said, a day before ending his 10-day Martha’s Vineyard vacation to travel to New Orleans and mark another somber date: the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
The weekly Republican address focused on the economy and government spending, with the party’s Florida Senate candidate, Marco Rubio, taking on the Democrats, who run the show in the capital.
“Today the American dream is threatened by out-of-control politicians in Washington who think that more government deficit spending is what it takes to grow our economy. That has never worked anywhere it’s been tried and it won’t work now,’’ Rubio said.
He said he favors extending tax cuts that were passed under President George W. Bush that are scheduled to expire in January, repealing Obama’s health care law, and ending what remains of the stimulus legislation.
— Associated Press
Grim economic reports cast an inescapable shadow over the first family’s stay in Martha’s Vineyard, and tough tasks on Iraq and the Middle East await the president in Washington.
But during his time on this lovely island, the president never once had to shed his leisure wear to step in front of the podium and address a national emergency or matter of state.
On Obama’s first extended presidential vacation, last August’s Martha’s Vineyard trip, the somber news of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s death required Obama to leave the island for the senator’s funeral.
Then there was Hawaii over Christmas and New Year’s. Obama had barely arrived when Christmas Day brought the attempted terror attack on a Detroit-bound airliner, forcing the president to spend the subsequent days conferring with his national security team between golf outings.
— Associated Press 
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