Obama: Bush, McCain Should Explain Their Problem With JFK

Sen. Barack Obama went one step further today in his pushback against presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and President Bush on appeasement, suggesting that both Republicans have a problem with presidents past who have engaged in direct diplomacy.

"If George Bush and John McCain have a problem with direct diplomacy, led by the president of the United States, then they can explain why they have a problem with John F. Kennedy because that's what he did with [Soviet leader Nikita] Khrushchev, or Ronald Reagan, 'cause that's what he did with [Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev, or Richard Nixon 'cause that's what they did with [Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung]," Obama said in Roseburg, Ore. "That's exactly the kind of diplomacy we need to keep us safe."

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[utopiandrive]

This Bush-McCain smear campaign against Obama is a classic mark of GOP desperation. They're criticizing Obama for willing to do something that's well-precedented and embraced in American history by Democratic (JFK) and Republican (Regan, Nixon) Presidents alike. Oh and I'm sorry but wasn't it George W. Bush who negotiated with Kim Jung-il of North Korea around 2003 about shutting down their nuclear weapons program?

It's downright pathetic of Bush (something we've come to expect from him) to use this against Obama. This is tough talk and lofty rhetoric that's completely unsubstantiated by precedent and disconnected from reality. Anyone with the vaguest hint of common sense and/or knowledge of history should see through this hollow partisan slander. "Talking," as Chris Matthews eloquently pointed out to right-wing clown Kevin James, is not the same as "appeasing."

[riverhouse]

What Bush needs to explain is his grandfather's ties to the Nazis and his father's ties to the bin Laden family. Take the profits from those two associations out of the Bush portfolio and the Bush family would be working class stiffs.

[Sabreen60]

Wow!! Tell the truth!!! You never hear this in the MSM.

[mamacat]

Is Sen. Obama so naive that he thinks logic and rationality will appeal to voters? Hasn't he learned anything from watching the neo-cons rape our political process? How does he expect to win, if all he offers is good, honest, competent government?

[loki]

Im sorry , but I am getting tired of presidents like Reagan and Kennedy getting praised by their respected parties as such glorious heroes. Reagan with his Iran Contra , South America drug smuggling terrorist funding, and starting the now famous "train wreck of the US economy" to force us into poverty and willing to give up all freedoms and programs like SSI and Welfare so we could be used by corporations as slaves, and more tax money could be used for military might to invade around the world, and pump up the welfare to corporations, just to name a few.
And Kennedy. Who was in just long enough to perform the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile Crisis. Besides those 2 things, and calling himself a jelly donut in Berlin, he didnt live long enough to do much else. But, because he was brought down in the prime of his life, to this day people seem to forget what he actually did, and praise him because he was murdered. I feel for him and think it was a shame he passed in such a horrible way so early in his life, but as a president, he really didnt do to much that was worth praising. I was alive back then, I remember. You could also read up on him if you dont think Im telling the truth too.

[Sabreen60]

I disagree about Kennedy. You sound as though you lived through his presidency. If not, then you don't understand. John Kennedy, like Obama, brought inspiration to this country. He brought a sense of hope. No he didn't do everything right, but name ONE president who has done everything right. John and Jackie brought "class" to the White House. They gave young people a reason to hope for a better America. Sometimes those things that are intangible are just as important. If people have no hope then they are easily defeated. I was there. I know what Kennedy gave to this country.

[geneven]

I'd like to hear what McCain thinks of Bush's relationship with probable killer or at least killer-accomplice Vladimir Putin.

[vippy]

It is in the perception not in the details. JFK is being remembered well because what happened to him. People overlook the other. Same with Reagan, you saw his funeral. People are fickle,
they don't remember the bad things but Obama pointed out that they were looked upon as mostly
favorable unlike the two Bush's, especially this last one. Hope no one ever visits his library,
and I hope all the books only contain pictures and are stored upside down.

[mydogshakespeare]

There are two paths to peace: learn to get along, or kill all enemies. Obama suggests the former, McCain prefers the latter. Your vote this fall indicates whether you would rather learn to talk, or learn to shoot.

[1differentdrummer]

Obama has "a dangerous lack of experience." And McBush's experience is what? A one-time beer distributor PR man turns to political sugar daddy for his well heeled supporters and that makes him experienced in diplomacy? Oh, sure. The puppet's strings are there for us to see.

[FollowTheLeader]

History lesson in US diplomacy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHliQNZcmi8

[Sabreen60]

Before Nixon the US government wanted to "pretend" that a billion Chinese did not exist. How stupid was that. Nixon open up talks with the Chinese and IMO is the one great accomplishment of his Presidency.

[loki]

This is great. I hope its used when Obama is running against McWar!!

It did make me think though that now that this is out there, Bush's spinsters will be trying to tell us what Bush really meant, and that it was all taken out of context and , and , and ,......

[mydogshakespeare]

Point well made! Too bad remaining Bush Apologists won't watch... heads too far up their asses.

[heal57]

I can't wait for Obama to become our President. We can get back the respect for our country from the rest of the world. I miss the days [way too short] of when John Kennedy was our President. 75,000 people in Portland, Oregon turned out today to see Obama. The time they are a changin, thank God.


Independent for Obama '08

[kesiac]

My respect goes out to this man. I can see now he is a tougher man with the Repubs than he was with Hillary. He was showing respect for the democratic party when he chose not to respond to her attacks. But Republicans watch out, you dont know what you are in for.

[LawSource]

VERY WELL SAID!!

POINT WELL TAKEN!!

DUNCE HEAD BUSH = MCCAIN, MCCAIN = BUSH NO DIFFERENCE!!

YOU BE THE JUDGE, Se If You Can Find The "REAL" McCAIN>> http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

[justwaitandsee]

Great Post

You have to excuse Noucant (NUM-NUTS) and KBAR (Kry-Baby) the lack of education hunts them.

But what did you expect, their Anti-American Un-educated Republicans

[sparkandy]

Since when did uneducated equal stupid? Judging by the quality of some of the comments here, Obama supporters are no better educated than the supporters of Clinton or McCain. When a post contains grammatical and spelling errors and gratuitous personal attacks and when it lacks coherency, one would tend to think the writer isn't particularly well educated. Then one might think, 'Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot.'

[steamboat]

"Un-educated".......

Is that the new 'codeword' ? CNN and MSNBC used it during the West Virginia Primary. Running captions that West Virginia only 17% of its citizens that graduated college. The only state primary that they ever ran such 'garbage' . All because West Virginia preferred Hillary.

Answer me this: Why didn't they run such underneath captions before?...Such as the Obama stronghold of Urban America having 50% who do NOT finish high school.

If they want to play that game, they need to 'look into the mirror first'. And clean-up their own house first.

[Sabreen60]

What exactly is your point and your intention. What has the % of high school kids who drop out of school have to do with the electorate? Hillary as well as the MSM chose to call her base less educated, hard working whites. Also, I read that 44% of people admitted during the exit polls of WV that race was an issue. I bring this up since you have played the race card in your comments. If you have a problem with being called un-educated, less educated, undereducated than talk to Hillary and her campaign. Obama and his supporters never injected the level of education or race into this campaign. However, once injected some did in fact run with it.

[steamboat]

And yes, there are many uneducated in West Virginia and Kentucky....But there are a far higher percentage of UNEDUCATED and high school DROP-OUTS in the bigger cities of America, folks.

John Conyers's Detroit whom you all idolize, only 25% of students graduate high school. And the national average is 50% in the cities. So you have alot of nerve talking about and making fun of West Virginia and Kentucky.

Look in the mirror before you look out the window.

[justwaitandsee]

Well if you are looking for a way to make yourself happy you won't find it here.
West Virginia, many of them are uneducated and if you did some research you will find the same applies for Kentucky. Sorry if you are embarrassed by this statistics.

[GrandpaMcCain]

The goose-steppers diseasing HuffPo are taking marching orders:

BEWARE OF FAKE COMMENTERS: The Following E-Mail To Create Dem Division Being Secretly Circulated by GOPers
IMPORTANT
This information is not to be posted to any of our usual forums
and should be emailed only to people you know personally and
completely trust.
Here is the updated game plan.
Step one: Register a bunch of user accounts on lefty blogs.
*Create false identities equally divided between Obama and Clinton
supporters. Initially play it cool. Don't make more than two
accounts per blog one for each candidate. Too many accounts
from the same ip and you will be outed as a sock puppet. Dont
do anything drastic that would get you banned. Lurk for a while
at first so you can learn how they talk. Liberals are like a
different species. Dont
start an all out flame war right away begin with small insults.
The idea is to poison the tone of discussion but do it so slowly
that they dont realize where its coming from. You want the
liberal sheep to get caught up in it and start doing our work for
us.
Step three: As the Democ-rat nomination narrows in on a
candidate crank up the heat. The loser
ident should start calling for a voter boycott on the winner.
You may not be able to peal off voters to our side but
demotivating them so they stay home is almost as good.
SPREAD THE WORD
B4B

[lobo1939]

The republicans hire their canvassars. So why not the infiltrated bloggers as well. Kbar is probably outsourced from India or Indonesia.

[KBAR]

Nah, more like a registered Democrat voter in WVa.

[justwaitandsee]

Make sure you post this everywhere. I have been battling these Anti-American Republicans all day.

Change is in the AIR. Senator Obama had to be SHOCKED BY THIS:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/obama-draws-record-crowd-in-oregon/#comment-1015698

[KBAR]

I have been battling these Anti-American Republicans all day.

Maybe you should have just policed up the area around the latreen on you collective.

[justwaitandsee]

It's so sad how you make no sense; not even to your self

[MissingAmerica]

Perhaps they don't like what they can't do. I note that Bush concluded his Middle East trip with "little or no gains." Bush has bullied so many that he has lost respect of all, and no leader wants to deal with a person they don't respect - UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. We need a leader, something we haven't had in nearly 8 years. I'll never figure out why this bonehead is still in office.

[realtalk]

BILL CLINTON HIMSELF SAID THIS IN 2006, AS REPORTED IN THE WASHINGTON POST: Former President BILL CLINTON said in SEPTEMBER 2006, that the USA should try talking to Iran about its nuclear weapons ambitions without imposing a lot of conditions.

Bill Clinton said: "The United States should not be afraid to talk to anyone. They should not be reluctant and shouldn't have too many conditions," said Clinton, who said his own offer to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predecessor had been rebuffed.

In an interview broadcasted on National Public Radio, BILL CLINTON said this: " ... I still believe that, based on all my Iranian friends in America, what they say is that the vast majority of Iranian citizens want to have good relationships with the United States and the West and do not want to be at odds."

THESE ARE CLINTON'S WORDS, AND CLINTON'S VIEWS.

[Binx101]

Bill Clinton is not running for President.

What is your point ??

Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
http://binx101.wordpress.com

[Sabreen60]

Oh really??? 2fer

[FZliveson]

Who's fooled into thinking that Bill Clinton is NOT running for President?
Not me. Hillary has put a big turd on her own cake. Bill is struggling to find his own voice again. Seems like he's failed too big time

[KBAR]

Bill Clinton is not running for President.

Nor is George W. Bush.

[Nolewoman]

Gee, thanks for the info. What would we, us Obamabots, do without you to keep us informed? Keep up the good work, we depend on you.

[justwaitandsee]

INSANE

75k

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080518/capt.41d4f2c997834f1baa804bd07ca0722a.obama_2008_orcc116.jpg

[steamboat]

Arianna, very 'TRICKY' and 'NEGATIVE' by the way you titled this. Knowing 3/4th the people won't read the story. You only mention JFK.....You forgot the rest of the sentence, didn't you? You forgot he also mentioned Reagan and Nixon in the SAME SENTENCE as JFK.

[kesiac]

Why would you assume people wouldnt read the story. You are a troll, and not a good one.

[Binx101]

What's your point ?

Show me an alternative headline that wouldn't look like a short-story.

What's your point ?

Crediting Nixon and Reagan too?

Why were you trying to say?

Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
http://binx101.wordpress.com

[steamboat]

My point: A MISleading headline for biased political reasons.

I didn't credit Reagan and Nixon----Obama DID !

Read the story....