The McCain campaign notes that on yesterday's talk shows, three prominent Democrats distanced themselves and their candidate from his call for direct, presidential talks with the leaders of rogue states. On This Week, Joe Biden explained that Obama had given the "wrong answer" at last summer's YouTube debate but had since refined his position:
"What we're talking about here is that he has repeatedly since then said he would not negotiate unconditionally, meaning him sitting down, alone, right off the bat with these leaders. He's talked about his Secretary of State, his Secretary of Defense. Matter of a fact, the statements he use mirrors the statement the rest of us have been talking about. This is a fellow who I think shorthanded an answer that in fact was the wrong answer, in my view, saying I would within my first year, it implied he'd personally sit down with anybody who wanted to sit down with him.
Harold Ford on Meet the Press:
"Barack Obama's challenge, I'll concede, you cannot meet with foreign leaders -- with terrorists, rather, those that lead rogue nations without some conditions."
And Gary Hart on CNN's Late Edition:
I don't think Barack Obama or any other President is going to meet with a head of state without lower-level discussions preceding that.
And yet the candidate's website maintains that "Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions." Has the candidate lost his "distinctive voice on foreign affairs," or is the Democratic party just too chicken to stand by his call for unconditional talks with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
