Obama's Jerusalem Flip-Flop Now Complete
Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 12:46:01 pm PDT
Yet another major policy reversal for Barack Obama, and again he’s blaming it on “poor phrasing.”
He’s very obviously giving in to the enormous pressure from pro-Palestinian groups.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said on Sunday he used “poor phrasing” in a speech supporting Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel.
“You know, the truth is that this was an example where we had some poor phrasing in the speech. And we immediately tried to correct the interpretation that was given,” he said in an interview aired on Sunday on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria — GPS.”
“The point we were simply making was, is that we don’t want barbed wire running through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the ‘67 war, that it is possible for us to create a Jerusalem that is cohesive and coherent,” Obama said.
Obama’s campaign has issued similar clarifications since the candidate’s speech to pro-Israel lobby group after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination early last month.
In the speech, Obama told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that if elected president in November, he would work for peace with a Palestinian state alongside Israel. “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided,” the Illinois senator said. Palestinian leaders reacted with anger and dismay. [And so, under the bus with you, Jerusalem! – ed.]
The bottom line here is that Barack Obama tried to pander to AIPAC with one of the most important issues for Israel, telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. Then he basked in the applause.
And now he’s weaseling out of it.
