PrintSeptember 27, 2008
Kissinger says McCain, not Obama right about Iran
Henry Kissinger is none too pleased that Barack Obama seems to have misstated the former Secretary of State's position on Iran.
Obama keeps citing Kissinger as agreeing with him that a meeting with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a good idea.
Au contraire, exclaims Kissinger:
"Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality."
(Hat Tip: Stephen Hayes, Weekly Standard Blog)
The fact of the matter is, Obama's "no preconditions" pledge is the gaffe of this campaign, hands down. There has been no more dumb, more reckless, more naive, more wrong-headed statement made by either candidate over the course of the last year.
More than any other factor affecting Obama's chances are people's distrust of his instincts with regard to foreign policy. And if McCain can continue to hammer Obama on his ridiculously inapt statement that he would grant instant legitimacy and hand a propaganda victory to Iranian President Ahmadinejad by meeting with him without the Iranians having to even halt their nuclear enrichment program, he will prove to the voters that the Democratic candidate for president is a dangerous fool.
