Giuliani falsely claims Obama “didn't mention the word war last night”
From the January 28 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
GIULIANI: The reality is he spent something like a page and a half -- on what with a 14-, 15-page speech -- on national security, as if it's an afterthought. It was a footnote to the speech. It was in the -- when the speech was running over an hour and people were starting to yawn, part of the speech. National security is a lot more important than that. Part of the problem this president has had is he hasn't made national security important enough. He began with not wanting to call it a war, didn't mention the word “war” last night, didn't mention the word “Islamic terrorism” last night. This would be like Franklin Roosevelt giving a State of the Union speech during the Second World War and not mentioning Nazism and not mentioning the war.
BRIAN KILMEADE (Fox & Friends co-host): Right. Even when it comes to the budget, too, that should have been factored in.
Obama mentioned “war” at least seven times
Obama: Military “must have the resources they need in war.” Obama repeatedly mentioned the word “war” in his State of the Union address. For example, Obama stated: “Tonight, all of our men and women in uniform -- in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and around the world -- they have to know that we -- that they have our respect, our gratitude, our full support. And just as they must have the resources they need in war, we all have a responsibility to support them when they come home.” [Obama's State of the Union address, 01/27/10]
Obama mentioned war when citing budget deficit. Contrary to Kilmeade's claim that “even when it comes to the budget, too, [war] should have been factored in,” Obama stated: “At the beginning of the last decade, the year 2000, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion. By the time I took office, we had a one-year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program. On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget.” [Obama's State of the Union address, 01/27/10]
Media previously claimed Obama “finally noticed” we are “at war” with terrorists
“War” word fixation is not new. Following Obama's January 7 remarks on the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight -- remarks during which Obama stated, “We are at war. We are at war with al Qaeda” -- numerous conservative media figures falsely suggested that prior to that speech, Obama had not characterized the fight against terrorists as a war. In fact, in his inaugural address, Obama stated that "[o]ur nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred," and he has repeatedly discussed terrorism as the rationale for U.S. military action abroad.
