Obama, Democrats Fume Over Bush Speech

President Bush delivered a speech today in front of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, as part of his visit to celebrate that nation's 60th anniversary. In his remarks, the president commented on critics of his Administration's approach toward dealing with America's and Israel's common enemies, telling the assembled lawmakers, "We also believe that nations have a right to defend themselves and that no nation should ever be forced to negotiate with killers pledged to its destruction." The president followed that with some criticism of his own for those who do not share his view.

"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Those words brought howls of protest from Democrats on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill. Sen. Barack Obama, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, interpreted the president's remarks as a thinly veiled shot at his campaign pledge to sit down with the leaders of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba without preconditions. The White House denies that the president was speaking about any one person, and he did not directly mention Sen. Obama, or the Democratic Party. That did not stop prominent Democrats from condemning the speech. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decried the remarks as "beneath the dignity of the [president's] office." That's advice the Obama campaign should have taken before reacting to the president.

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Almost immediately upon hearing them, the Obama campaign issued a statement accusing the president of singling out Obama in the Knesset speech.

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack. George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was ready with a sarcastic response to the Obama campaign. "I understand when you're running for office you sometimes think the world revolves around you. That is not always true. And it is not true in this case," she said.

In addition to Speaker Pelosi, other Democrats took offense to the comments. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, defended Obama from what he termed, "a political hit." "His policy has been an abject failure," Biden said. "For him to call those who rightly see the need for talk as appeasers (sic) is delusional and for him to do it from abroad is disgraceful."

Obama's line that he has never "supported engagement with terrorists" was quickly pounced upon by Republicans, who fired off e-mails containing screen-shots of Obama's campaign website, where it proclaims:

Obama is willing to meet with the leaders of all nations, friend and foe. He will do the careful preparation necessary, but will signal that America is ready to come to the table, and that he is willing to lead. And if America is willing to come to the table, the world will be more willing to rally behind American leadership to deal with challenges like terrorism, and Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs.

That statement seems to lend credibility to the Obama campaign's contention that President Bush was referencing him in his Knesset speech. But one never looks so guilty as when he professes innocence when he is not accused. By reacting to the president's remarks so strongly and so quickly, Obama and his Democrat defenders only succeeded in calling more attention to Obama's position.


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