Obama Assails Bush

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday ridiculed the Bush administration's defense of the Iraq war, arguing that messages such as "Plan for Victory" can't hide the "2,400 flag-draped coffins that have arrived at the Dover Air Force Base."

In a speech to EMILY's List, the Illinois senator used biting criticism in assailing the president and his handling of the war. Obama spoke in support of former Army Maj. Tammy Duckworth, a helicopter co-pilot who lost both her legs in combat in Iraq and is trying to win an open House seat.

"This idea," Obama said, "that somehow if you say the words 'plan for victory' and 'stay the course' over and over and over and over again and you put these subliminal messages behind you that say 'victory' and 'victory' and 'victory,' that somehow people are not going to notice the 2,400 flag-draped coffins that have arrived at the Dover Air Force Base."

The first-term lawmaker asked the audience: "People, have we flipped? It's time to say we notice it. It is time to say that we care, and we are not going to settle anymore."

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