Obama says speech in Israel by Bush is 'false political attack'

WASHINGTON

Sen. Barack Obama accused President Bush of "a false political attack" yesterday after Bush warned in Israel against appeasing terrorists -- early salvos in a general-election campaign even as Obama, the Democratic front-runner, tries to sew up his party's nomination.

The White House denied that Bush had targeted Obama, who said that Bush's intent was obvious.

In short order, the issue spilled across the presidential campaign.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee in waiting, said that Obama was showing "naivete and inexperience and lack of judgment" in his willingness to meet with U.S. foes.

Sen. Hillary Clinton then called Bush's comments "offensive and outrageous, especially in light of his failures in foreign policy."

As the workday began stateside, Bush gave a speech to Israel's Knesset in which he spoke of the president of Iran, who has called for the destruction of Israel. Then Bush said: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history," Bush added.

With the president abroad and those trying to succeed him campaigning at home, the transcontinental tiff signaled the early direction of the general election. Bush seemed to assume the traditional lame-duck presidential role in trying to help the Republican nominee-in-waiting, and Obama tried to maneuver for advantage and to show strength.

McCain played his political role as well in tandem with Obama, notable for two White House hopefuls who are campaigning for a bipartisan approach free of the often-divisive discourse in Washington.

By tradition, partisan politics comes to a stop when a U.S. president is on foreign soil, and Bush's remarks led Obama to quickly cry foul. He responded to the comments as if they were criticism of his position that as president he would be willing to personally meet with Iran's leaders and those of other regimes that the United States has deemed rogue.

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack," Obama said in a statement that his aides distributed. "George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."

In turn, the White House press secretary, Dana Perino, denied that the Knesset remark was aimed at Obama. In fact, the language is fairly typical for Bush speeches, and Gordon Johndroe, a national-security spokesman for the president, said that Bush was referring to "a wide range of people who have talked to or suggested we talk to Hamas, Hezbollah or their state sponsors" over a long period of time.

One such person most recently was former President Carter, who held talks with Hamas leaders, leading to criticism from Bush officials as well as Obama and McCain.

Although his political interest is keen, Bush has mostly refrained from injecting himself into the presidential race.

He largely remained silent during the GOP primaries but appeared with McCain at the White House after McCain clinched the nomination and, since then, has talked up McCain frequently.

As for the Democratic race, the president typically avoids naming names, but he has publicly disagreed with the positions of the Democratic front-runners, including Obama's expressed willingness to meet leaders of U.S. adversaries.

The debate over whether a president should directly negotiate with such leaders has been one of the most prominent issue differences in the race for the Democratic nomination. Obama has said he would be willing to meet with heads of state. Clinton has said that those meetings could be used for propaganda and her first response would be outreach through diplomatic channels.