PrintOctober 23, 2007
Obama hedging on his Iran talks pledge?
Scroll down from the Obama banner ads on the Huffington Post and you find Sam Stein's 'Early Obama Comments Indicate Shift On Iran,'
"[I]n a little-noticed interview in May 2007 with the Israeli paper, Ha'aretz, Obama advocated what appears to be a more conditional, nuanced approach to Iran. In an exchange with reporter Shmuel Rosner, Obama said it would be inappropriate to pursue 'full-scale' diplomatic negotiations with Tehran without seeing positive steps beforehand."
Rick Klein and Nancy Flores of ABC News' The Note quote an anonymous source close to the Obama campaign:
"Ultimately, he completely ignored what Barack had to say in the interview that was consistent with Barack's view that we should talk with people we disagree with. The Clinton campaign tried getting at least a dozen reporters to write that story and the reason they only landed it in one place is because the interview does not bear out their assertion."
Obama's expressed willingness to talk was a major error, and it will not go away, especially with the Clinton campaign working on it. He is eventually going to have to explain all his comments. Or will the real Barack Obama (otherwise known as David Axelrod -- who so often has to issue "clarifications" regarding Obama gaffes) have yet another explanation?
