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- 05.09.2008 - 3:16 PMAfter his advisor muddied the waters a bit with the age issue, John McCain steers the conversation back today to Barack Obama’s endorsement by Hamas.
McCain also told reporters that the recent complimentary remarks for Obama by a Hamas spokesman are also fair game for debate. Prefacing his comment by saying that he believes that it’s clear that Obama “shares nothing of the values or goals of Hamas,” the presumptive GOP nominee added that the Palestinian organization’s favorable assessment of Obama’s candidacy is “a legitimate point of discussion.”
(And was he offended by the “bearings” remark? Not really.)
McCain is correct in this respect: it is important to understand that Obama’s positions (e.g. his willingness to meet with Hamas’ sponsor Iran) and his rhetoric (”nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people”) have consequences and are interpreted by our adversaries as providing them with a political and diplomatic advantage. As McCain explained on Bill O’Reilly’s show last night, naive overtures of this type only enhance their stature on the world stage. That is a significant issue which goes to the candidates’ competence and outlook in managing foreign policy.
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May 9th, 2008 at 3:46 PM
This is one of the more obvious posts I have read in recent years. It is dumbfounding and intellectually insulting that Obama would state that this argument is nothing more than a smear.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:52 PM
And Hamas might have noticed Obama’s pastor and spiritual advisor declaring that the United States “supported state terrorism against the Palestinians.” Besides, isn’t Obama also the favored candidate of the FARC in Colombia?
May 9th, 2008 at 4:48 PM
This argument by McCain is vastly different and much sounder, it seems to me, than saying “Hamas endorsed Obama”. We all know, among other items, how the press is going to report that.
If he stays on this ground - the naive policy aspects of Obama’s - he can make great headway as against the silly endorsement line.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:41 PM
I think the even more powerful argument would be: Obama has said we shouldn’t meet with Hamas until they renounce terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist while also saying we should meet unconditionally with Iran and Syria, two countries that don’t recognize Israel and support terrorism, including Hamas. They should hammer him 1) because this is an obvious contradiction and 2) he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the fact that Hamas is a terrorist organization and asking it to renounce terrorism is a sign of weakness and confusion.
Also, if they cry foul everytime someone points out McCain is old, they will look weak and highlight the point. They should make a joke out of it. McCain should have said: “Maybe I am losing my bearings, because I can’t understand why Obama says he’ll refuse to deal with Hamas if they don’t renounce terrorism and recognize Israel while at the same time he’ll certainly meet with Syria and Iran, two regimes that don’t recognize Israel and support terrorists including Hamas. Could Obama explain that to me so I can regain my bearings?”
May 10th, 2008 at 3:52 AM
The age “issue” is a joke. Despite being in his seventies, and suffering from permanent injuries inflicte over years of torture, he is burly and fit. Despite being young and pampered, Obama is scrawny and frail. Hell, McCain’s mother is prbably in better physical condition than Obama. She’s certainly in better mental condition.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:51 AM
It’s a good start for McCain, and a good sign that he so quickly got into the fray after his advisor’s long and somewhat tangential response. But he’s got to stop doing Obama favors, as in prefacing any comments with the likes of ‘Obama doesn’t share Hamas’s philosophy…’ That is most definitely not the point, and it’s not good politics for McCain to make that point for Obama. He really needs to stick to the obvious message here: Hamas endorsed Obama b/c they see in him a man who will not pressure Palestinians to do more, but rather will pressure Israel to do more.
And in this, McCain has an opening with lots of Bush voters who are NOT AT ALL happy with the second Bush term WRT to its Arab-Israeli peace processing. Obama’s approach is frankly not all that different than the one pursued by Condi and endorsed by Bush. So McCain can get a necessary dig in here on where the Bush approach has gone off the rails, and win points that way with many voters as well.