Obama, Clinton and Iran

Late last night, Senator Barack Obama introduced a bill that would essentially nullify the one his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, recently supported. The latter is the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, which designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, and which some believe provides President Bush with the necessary pretext to go to war with Iran. Mrs. Clinton has been hammered by her Democratic rivals for her support of Kyl-Lieberman, and Mr. Obama's new bill attempts to make clear to the White House that it does not have the authority to start a war with Iran.

Though Obama missed the vote on the Kyl-Lieberman bill because he was busy campaigning, the vote itself wasn't close (76 for and 22 against). Despite the support for the measure, Obama remains steadfast against giving the president the opportunity to start another Middle East war. From the AP:

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the Illinois senator drafted the measure in an effort to "nullify the vote the Senate took to give the president the benefit of the doubt on Iran."

Clinton responded by accusing Obama of playing politics. This, while the New York senator was herself attempting yet another backtrack. After approving Kyl-Lieberman, Mrs. Clinton, along with 29 other senators (Barack Obama not among them), sent a letter to the White House saying that Mr. Bush has no authorization to start a war with Iran. While she claims that the reason she signed on to Kyl-Lieberman was to apply diplomatic pressure, she seems to have forgotten which administration would actually be in charge of the negotiations (or lack thereof).