From the New York Times
Two days ago, Senator Barack Obama said he had not been clear enough in explaining his Iraq policy. Today, there was a different rationale.
The confusion was not his fault, Mr. Obama said, but rather the media’s for seizing on three words he uttered in Fargo, N.D., when he suggested he would be open to “refine my policies” on Iraq.
“I was surprised by how finely calibrated every single word was measured,” he said, speaking to reporters as he flew here from Montana.Mr. Obama touched off a stir on Thursday when he said he would consult American military commanders in Iraq before saying whether he would continue to pursue a proposed timetable of withdrawing combat troops within 16 months of taking office. A few hours later, he took the rare step of calling a second news conference to reiterate his commitment to end the war.
“I was a little puzzled by the frenzy that I set off by what I thought was a pretty innocuous statement,” he said, speaking on Saturday about the episode for the first time. “I am absolutely committed to ending the war.”
When asked whether his Iraq views would be difficult to explain to voters, Mr Obama said: “What’s important is to understand the difference between strategy and tactics. The tactics of how we ensure our troops are safe as we pull out, how we execute the withdrawal, those are things that are all based on facts and conditions. I am not somebody – unlike George Bush – who is willing to ignore facts on the basis of my preconceived notions.”
So did he misspeak on Thursday when he said he would gather additional information in Iraq and “continue to refine my policies?”
No, he said, he did not.
“I wasn’t saying anything that I hadn’t said before,” Mr. Obama said.
As he spoke here, a dozen or more reporters furiously took notes and recorded his words. Aides later conceded that Mr. Obama knows the office he seeks – the Oval Office – comes with a job description of calibrating and measuring every single word.
Again, he lacks experience and his language is imprecise so Obama ends up having to backtrack. We’re backtracking with Barack all Summer and Fall, do you really want four years of this? I don’t. I am tired of it already.
Interesting though, how his relationship with the media is changing. And of course, I can help but recall Joe Biden’s thoughts from just one year one ago:
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy … I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
He doesn’t think, though, that Obama can win the presidency because he is “a one-term, a guy who has served for four years in the Senate. … I don’t recall hearing a word from Barack about a plan or a tactic.”
Ah, the wisdom of Joe Biden, refreshing ain’t it?