Obama's remarks that Hillary's people are criticizing were a defense of Kerry - Edwards.

[jefferson_dem]

Always consider the context. Here's a little perspective, from a rw blog source but still interesting...

Obama's remarks were made in 2004 in the context of defending John Kerry and John Edwards for voting in favor of the resolution. Tim Russert asked Obama, "How could have been so wrong and you so right as a state legislator in Illinois and they're on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees in Washington?" Obama replied, "Well, I think they have access to information that I did not have." By then, the war was quickly becoming unpopular, but Obama rejected an opportunity to make himself look good at the ticket's expense. That's not to be despised.

Hillary is so desperate that she's challenging Obama on the grounds that *he's a loyal Democrat*.

[Colobo]

1. Obama keeps moving up, and someone is scared...

[mtnsnake]

3. Obama will move up, but I don't think it's because Hillary is doing anything wrong

I think it's just because Obama is such a charismatic candidate he's bound to move up, and I believe he'll be our candidate when the dust settles. It won't be easy because Hillary is a formidable fighter. May the best one win.

[Kber]

2. Edwards has a point - general elections aren't the time to rip down

fellow democrats.



That's what the primaries are for.

[DemDogs]

4. So he was saying something he didn't believe?

A different kind of politician? Ha ha ha

[jefferson_dem]

5. Who said he didn't believe what he said? Would you rather he lambasted the two Dem nominees...

by accentuating his clear opposition to the war, in the heat of the GE campaign? Desperado...

[SOS]

7. No

He was the keynote speaker at the convention.
Did you think he would rip into Kerry for his IWR vote while introducing him as the nominee?

Here's Obama in 2004 from the NYT article, later circulated by Bill Clinton at Kantrowitz's billionaires fund raiser for Hillary, then reported by Curtis Sliwa to the NY Post:

"One point listeners are unlikely to hear is his opposition in 2002 to Congress's approval of the war in Iraq. Senators John Kerry and John Edwards voted to authorize it.
In a recent interview, he declined to criticize Senators Kerry and Edwards for voting to authorize the war, although he said he would not have done the same based on the information he had at the time.
''But, I'm not privy to Senate intelligence reports,'' Mr. Obama said. ''What would I have done? I don't know. What I know is that from my vantage point the case was not made.''
But Mr. Obama said he did fault Democratic leaders for failing to ask enough tough questions of the Bush administration to force it to prove its case for war. ''What I don't think was appropriate was the degree to which Congress gave the president a pass on this,'' he said."

The sentence "''What would I have done? I don't know." is the one dredged up by some opponents opposition research team. It was used by Bill himself recently at a Hillary fund raiser.
Read the line after that: ''What I know is that from my vantage point the case was not made.''

Obama has been consistent. Bill Clinton, Curtis Sliwa and the NY Post can try to pull out one sentence, out of context, but it's not going to work.
Why?
Because we can look up the original article ourselves.

[Mass]

9. No, he was trying to be thoughful rather than to deliver talking points.

Good for him. Life is complex, sadly, politicians tend to ignore that.

A great kudos for Obama to understand that.

[AtomicKitten]

6. Obama was actually effectively

defending ALL that voted "yes" on the IWR, including Hillary.

I wouldn't get too excited and read anything into the day-to-day internet dissection of what goes down between the candidates, particularly based on candidate preference, i.e., bias. What it ends up being is tantamount to taking sides in a junior high school spat based almost entirely on gossip and speculation.

That said, Gobama.

[LittleClarkie]

12. I appreciate that he wasn't trying to build himself up at the expense of others

He would seem to be an honorable man.

[PresidentObama]

8. One things for sure, I applaud Obama not taking shots at Edwards or Kerry...

....and instead conceding that he wouldn't have done the same thing, but he also didn't have all the same information as Edwards and Kerry and even Hillary had. With that said Kerry, Edwards, and Hillary were all wrong in my estimation. But he was very gracious in not attacking them for his own political gain. Smart move, Senator Obama!! ;) Keep it up!!

[Pirate Smile]

10. They are going to try to make him pay for his graciousness now.

It feels a bit like "Out of Context Theater".

[Hav]

11. .

That's how it looks to me. If Bill Clinton really took these two sentences out of context in such a way, then it's quite disappointing. And it's even more disappointing considering all the reasons Obama replied like that, among these reasons was that he didn't provide any material that could be used against his fellow Democrats months before the presidential elections.


Apparently this is from the article that Bill Clinton used to attack Obama:

"In a recent interview, he declined to criticize Senators Kerry and Edwards for voting to authorize the war, although he said he would not have done the same based on the information he had at the time.
''But, I'm not privy to Senate intelligence reports,'' Mr. Obama said. ''What would I have done? I don't know. What I know is that from my vantage point the case was not made.''

But Mr. Obama said he did fault Democratic leaders for failing to ask enough tough questions of the Bush administration to force it to prove its case for war. ''What I don't think was appropriate was the degree to which Congress gave the president a pass on this,'' he said."


It really seems to be a hypothetical situation. He most likely couldn't know for sure whether the Senators had additional or more damning information and it would have been presumptous of him if he judged them without knowing the whole truth. It was an honest and fair answer.

[Ethelk2044]

14. I agree!

[IndianaGreen]

16. Obama is not Carville or Begala

that's why he didn't take cheap shots at Kerry or Edwards.

[Clarkie1]

13. K & R. You make a very important point. nt

[BeyondGeography]

15. When it's all said and done, one senses that Obama's a good man

which is why so many people are responding to him. Of course, he'll be punished for not being a smartass and separating himself from his senior colleagues at the Senate by having his words of conciliation used against him, but posts like yours help us keep a clear perspective. Good work. :thumbsup:

[quinnox]

17. Hillary is not desperate

Obama is doing OK, but nothing major yet! These little campaign skirmishes are nothing compared to what is to come. Obama ain't seen nothin' yet!