Obama Denies Rebuking Clark

At a press availability today, Sen. Barack Obama denied that he had repudiated General Wesley Clark's comments about Sen. John McCain's military service. Clark said on Sunday's Face the Nation that McCain's military service was not necessarily a qualification for the office of president. "I don't think that riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president," he said. The McCain campaign produced no fewer than eight press releases from former military supporters of McCain decrying Clark's comments and calling them an attack.

Yesterday, Sen. Obama gave a speech on patriotism which the major media reported contained a rebuke of Clark's harsh remarks. But Sen. Obama disagrees. Obama reportedly was referring to Clark in this passage from the speech:

For those who have fought under the flag of this nation – for the young veterans I meet when I visit Walter Reed; for those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country – no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary.

And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides.

Many Republicans said that those remarks did not amount to a repudiation of Clark, since Obama did not mention Clark by name. Now, Obama has confirmed that his call to honor the service of all who have sacrificed for the country had nothing to do with the controversy over Clark's denigration of McCain's military record.

In Zanesville, Ohio, today, Sen. Obama was asked if Clark's comments were much different from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's questioning of Sen. John Kerry's military record during the 2004 presidential campaign. In his answer, Obama made clear that he was not denouncing Clark or his comments in his speech yesterday.

"Well, I don't think that General Clark had the same intent as the Swift Boat ads that we saw four years ago. I reject that analogy. But, what I've also said repeatedly is that Senator McCain deserves the utmost honor and respect for his service to our country. I've said that repeatedly. I've said it all the time. I notice that I think in at least one publication it was reported that my comments yesterday about Senator McCain were in a response to General Clark. I think my staff will confirm that was in a draft of that speech that I had written two months ago. So, you know, I have repeatedly insisted that Senator McCain's service is heroic and that he deserves our respect for that.

Despite the media crediting him with distancing himself from Clark, Obama says that he was not talking about the controversial remarks at all. The reporter followed up by asking Obama if he thought Clark owed McCain an apology for his comments. Obama said that it was not a "top priority" of his.

For his part, Clark has not backed down from his statements. He appeared this morning on ABC's Good Morning America and repeated his comments about McCain's military service. "It depends on which level you served," he said. "[Being a fighter pilot] isn't the same as having been in the highest levels of the military and having to work with the president and other heads of the state and make those kinds of life or death decisions about national strategic issues."

The controversy will rage on until either Clark or Obama apologize to McCain for the comments. McCain's campaign has demonstrated that it is not about to let the matter drop, and is even trying to use it to its advantage, tailoring at least one press release on the comments to veterans in New Jersey. The media will continue to ask Sen. Obama about the remarks as long as he continues to ignore them and as long as the McCain campaign continues to provide surrogates to denounce Clark.