...and that sound you hear is that of Barack Obama backpedaling on his ideas regarding meeting foreign leaders with no preconditions:
"With his experience and leadership credentials under sharp criticism, Senator Barack Obama and his advisers are trying to clarify what has emerged as a central tenet of his proposed foreign policy: a willingness to meet leaders of enemy nations. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Obama, of Illinois, sought to emphasize, as he and his aides have done continually over the last few days, the difference between avoiding preconditions for talks with nations like Iran and Syria, and granting them automatic discussions at the presidential level. While Mr. Obama has said he would depart from the Bush administration policy of refusing to meet with certain nations unless they meet preconditions, he has also said he would reserve the right to choose which leaders he would meet, should he choose to meet with them at all."
Obama isn't stupid. He knows his position on this hasn't held up too well. And it hasn't held up too well because the criticisms of it, coming from a conservative direction, have hit home. This is a victory for the Right, and they should keep pounding away on this.
