During an appearance on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Donna Brazile, former campaign manager for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, admitted to not knowing what a caliphate was while trying to defend President Obama’s policy regarding the terrorist group ISIS.
Brazile argued that the battle with ISIS is “a medieval war that we're looking at to establish a caliphate” before conceding that she had to ask conservative commentator Bill Kristol “exactly what that [caliphate] meant.”
The Democratic campaign operative’s awkward admission came following moderator George Stephanopoulos wondering if President Obama will receive support from congressional Democrats to use military force to strike ISIS.
Brazile responded by saying the U.S. needs to enlist members of the Arab League to help combat ISIS:
The president has to spell out the mission. I think everyone understands the mission. But he has to spell out exactly what we hope to accomplish. The good news is that Secretary Kerry has spoken with the Arab League. They will now take action. And without the support of the Arab League, look those Arab countries, they have skin in the game. This is a medieval war that we're looking at to establish a caliphate. I had to ask Bill exactly what that meant.
Afer acknowledging that she had to ask Bill Kristol what caliphate meant, the editor of the conservative Weekly Standard joked that he was “an expert on caliphates of all sorts.” For those who don’t know, a caliphate is an Islamic state lead by a supreme religious and political leader called a caliph.
While some might argue Brazile shouldn’t be commenting on ISIS given her lack of knowledge on the subject, very few pundits would actually admit on air to not knowing everything about the topic at hand. Brazile should be applauded for her honesty regardless of how awkward it was for her.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC
This Week with George Stephanopoulos
September 7, 2014
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And will he get support though from Democrats if he does that Donna? I see the Democrats are asking for the president to come to Congress. But are they prepared to give him full authorization?
DONNA BRAZILE: I think some are but many are not. Look, everybody remembers Iraq. They remember the rush to go into Iraq without an exit strategy. The president has to spell out the mission. I think everyone understands the mission. But he has to spell out exactly what we hope to accomplish. The good news is that Secretary Kerry has spoken with the Arab League. They will now take action. And without the support of the Arab League, look those Arab countries, they have skin in the game. This is a medieval war that we're looking at to establish a caliphate. I had to ask Bill exactly what that meant.
BILL KRISTOL: I'm an expert on caliphates of all sorts
BRAZILE: And medieval politics. But the truth is, that the president needs to have the country behind him, whatever we decide to do. It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be long. It’s going to involve American troops. But it’s also going to involve the United States making sure that we can get an international coalition built so that we can solve this problem.
