78° M/CLEAR, 
Appeasement Jab From Bush Draws Obama Snap
Last Modified: Friday, May 16, 2008 at 6:27 a.m.
The White House denied Obama was Bush's target, but the Democratic presidential contender said the Republican president's intent was clear. John McCain, the likely GOP nominee, jumped in, too, using the opportunity to argue that Obama was showing "naiveté and inexperience and lack of judgment" in his willingness to meet with U.S. foes.
With the president abroad and those seeking to succeed him campaigning at home, the transcontinental tiff signaled the early direction of the general election.
Bush seemed to assume the traditional lame-duck presidential role in trying to help the Republican nominee-in-waiting, and Obama tried to maneuver for advantage - and to show strength - while on the cusp of clinching the Democratic nomination.
McCain played his political role as well in tandem with Obama, notable for two White House hopefuls who are campaigning for a bipartisan governing approach free of the often divisive discourse in Washington.
As the workday began stateside, Bush gave a speech to Israel's Knesset in which he spoke of the president of Iran, who has called for the destruction of the U.S. ally. Then, Bush said: "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," Bush added.
By tradition, partisan politics comes to a halt when a U.S. president is on foreign soil, and Bush's remarks led Obama to quickly cry foul. The first-term Illinois senator responded to the comments as if they were criticism of his position that as president he would be willing to personally meet with Iran's leaders and those of other regimes the U.S. has deemed rogue.
"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," Obama said in a statement his aides distributed. "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.
In turn, White House press secretary Dana Perino denied that the Knesset remark was aimed at Obama. In fact, the language is fairly typical for Bush speeches, and Gordon Johndroe, a national security spokesman for the president, said Bush was referring to "a wide range of people who have talked to or suggested we talk to Hamas, Hezbollah or their state sponsors" over a long period of time.
One such person most recently was former President Carter, who held talks with Hamas leaders, leading to criticism from Bush officials as well as Obama and McCain.
Even as the White House said Bush meant no dig at the Democrat, Perino couldn't resist the opportunity to get in a small one.
"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.
Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, McCain said he took the White House at its word, but then he weighed into the spat himself, saying: "This does bring up an issue that we will be discussing with the American people, and that is, why does Barack Obama, Senator Obama, want to sit down with a state sponsor of terrorism?"
Asked if Obama was an appeaser, McCain said Obama must explain why he wants to talk with leaders like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
This story appeared in print on page A1
Comments
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May 16, 2008 3:34:17 am
Mitt Romney said it best: "If you throw a rock over a fence, you know the dog that barked was the one who got hit." LOL
Suck it up little girly man, it ain't all about you.
May 16, 2008 3:56:58 am
Very well stated Patt.
May 16, 2008 4:08:52 am
Didn't someone once say, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer"?
You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists -- Abbie Hoffman
May 16, 2008 4:36:29 am
Have we really come to the point where just talking to the enemy is bad? It's like logic and reason have no place in McCain's (or the president's) world....
Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.
-- Jimi Hendrix
May 16, 2008 4:41:19 am
Thats what I was thinking when I saw the report last night. Why bother talking when you can just threaten and bomb people. Is this behaving any better then the terrorists?
Welcome to Lakeland, the city of lights. Most of them being stop lights.
May 16, 2008 4:45:17 am
So from this post I take it that you are totally against peace and totoally for war with people you don't agree with and that the only diplomacy chould come at the point of a sword. Got it now. Bible and bullets. The America Christianity.
May 16, 2008 5:03:18 am
The sabre rattling has gotten sooo much done. NOT!
Make no mistake about it. I think the Iranian leader is absolutely despicable. But sometimes it's better to kill your enemies with kindness....
You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists -- Abbie Hoffman
May 16, 2008 5:17:36 am
Mill,
Can I take it from your post that you subscribe to the "can't we all just get along?" mentality, and that a sit down with Hitler would have straightened him out?
May 16, 2008 5:17:54 am
That's why it's a good idea to engage in diplomacy -- but still have your "guns" drawn.... Remember "trust, but verify"?
I really don't think it hurts anything to talk to this bozo --- but we shouldn't let our guard down, either.
You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists -- Abbie Hoffman
May 16, 2008 5:21:41 am
I do. It gives them a sense of respect they don't deserve, it gives them edited words to use in speeches to their own people, and a idea they have more power than they do. It's asking for trouble, like there is a possibility for negotiation, and all the leaders we are speaking of see dialog as a weakness. It is their culture to see things this way.
May 16, 2008 5:34:04 am
Could be. [shrug]
You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists -- Abbie Hoffman
May 16, 2008 5:37:35 am
Wills, I guess you've missed this morning's film clip on CNN of a John McCain interview two years ago where he says there's no alternative to talking to Hamas?
May 16, 2008 5:44:34 am
Oh my Mr. McCain, you must be having a senior moment...or maybe you are just a hypocrit...which is it? Either way, I don't want you as my President. Exclusive video: McCain was for talking to Hamas...before he was against it
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” ....Mahatma Gandhi
May 16, 2008 5:46:00 am
On the other hand saber rattling gives them something to rally support around.
Which scenario do you really think is going to incite jihad:
Open dialog?
Singing Bomb Bomb Bomb bomb bomb Iran?
..Can't make the same mistake this time..We are the ones they left behind...Living under the fear till nothing else remains We don't need another hero We don't need to know the way home All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
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