Obama says US should not meet with Hamas

[oberliner]

SAN ANTONIO - Democratic US presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday backed the Bush administration's policy of shunning contact with the Islamic militants of Hamas in its Middle East peace diplomacy.

The Illinois senator has said he would break with President George W. Bush's stance of declining to talk to some other international adversaries but that stance does not apply to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is committed to the destruction of Israel.

Obama has said in the past he would be willing to meet with leaders with whom the Bush administration strongly disagrees, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Cuban leader Raul Castro.

Obama, hoping to win his party's nomination to face likely Republican nominee Sen. John McCain in the November presidential election, said his willingness to meet with foes "does not include Hamas."

"You can't negotiate with somebody who does not recognize the right of a country to exist so I understand why Israel doesn't meet with Hamas," Obama told reporters during a campaign stop in San Antonio, Texas.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3514533,00.html

[Birthmark]

1. Yeah, because NOT negotiating is the heart...

...and soul of diplomatic solutions. :sarcasm:

[leftofcool]

2. back peddler

You didn't exclude Hamas in your little tirade last week.

[Igel]

5. Eh.

He's the candidate of change.

We all hoped for change, believed in change, and that hope wasn't a false hope. So we got a little change. And that's all we could hope for.

[w13rd0]

3. Obama has said that he's be willing to meet with the leaders of other nations...

...with whom he disagrees. Hamas, the organization, is not a leader of another nation. At most, they lead a faction within a territory they would like to have considered its own nation. At the moment though, it is not. And when the world community didn't care for the results of the elections of the Palestinian people, we supported the fracturing of "Palestine" into the West Bank and Gaza.

Frankly, it doesn't matter what "side" you take in that particular region, or how you try to approach the problems, you'll come out smelling like shit. The extremist factions on both sides make it so that were I president, I sure as shit wouldn't want to get involved. Like putting your hand into a cage with two rabid pit bulls and hoping they'll gingerly lick the grease from your fingers.

[subsuelo]

7. The US is already heavily involved, though

It's not like the US is just some impartial, disinterested spectator

[madrchsod]

4. well after today`s revelation that george bush

was involved in the fatah-hamas battle over who controlled palestine it may be wise not to talk to anyone...

[azurnoir]

9. Or maybe he talk to everyone

something like we're sorry, we're sorry, we're sorry, we're sorry, please forgive us, we'll change our ways
repeat
repeat
repeat

[Tom Joad]

11. US out of the Middle East.

[hifalutin]

18. The candidates send warm wishes to Sderot

I posted this somewhere else but in case you missed it you can see the candidates remarks in the middle of the article

LA benefit salutes Sderot's children (benefit held in Hollywood 2/27)

'LIVE FOR SDEROT' concert held in support of rocket-battered Israeli town and hosts Israeli, American artists. US presidential candidates Obama, Clinton and McCain send their warm wishes to Sderot during show

WASHINGTON – Dozens of Hollywood stars attended Tuesday the "Live for Sderot" concert, which was held in Los Angeles and dedicated to the children of the Qassam-battered town.

City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also participated in the glamorous event, organized by the Israeli consulate as an opening ceremony for Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations, and US presidential hopefuls Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain all sent their warm wishes to Sderot via videotaped messages.

The show was hosted by Israeli actress Noa Tishby, and included performances by Ninet Tayeb, violinist Miri Ben-Ari, Israeli-born American singer Elliot Yamin, Mike Burstein, Aki Avni and Oscar-winning actor John Voight.

In Obama's message, which was broadcast during the event, the Democratic candidate said that as a father of two girls, he "could only imagine the terror that these rockets cause." Senator Clinton voiced her sympathy for the people of Sderot, saying she was overwhelmed by the town's residents' courage and sacrifice.

Republican candidate McCain stated that the world must not remain passive in view of the Qassam fire on the Israeli town. "It’s an outrage that this violence is claiming innocent victims but is not condemned by world nations. Everybody is entitled to live in peace," he stressed.

Fighting media bias
Israeli Consul General in Los Angeles Jacob Dayan told Ynet that it was the biased, one-sided coverage of the situation by the Los Angeles Times that prompted the consulate to organize the campaign for Sderot.

Dayan added that the presidential candidates' willingness to contribute to the concert "proves that it's not only the people of Israel that stand behind Sderot, and not only the people of Los Angeles that embrace them, but the whole of the United States."

Tuesday's show was part of a wider campaign, sponsored by the Israeli Leadership Club, aimed at raising awareness to the situation in Sderot in the American public. Ten teenagers from Sderot were recently flown to LA to meet with high school and college students and share their experience from life in the bombarded Israeli town

[ProgressiveMuslim]

6. What a fucking coward. NO WE CAN'T.

[subsuelo]

8. I hear you n/t

[Tom Joad]

10. Obama is not a peace activist, he has no interest in human rights

at least none that would hurt his ambitions. He is a politician, that is his job. To attain office.

People's action for justice and democracy make the difference.

The answer is us, not the politicians.

[Vegasaurus]

12. Tom, if you don't like Obama

is there any candidate you support?

Seems you have only one platform that interests you, so I am curious who you support and what you are doing on DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND
if you speak about Obama that way?

[Tom Joad]

13. I am going to vote for him in november. protest his prowar policies in January.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

14. Sounds like the only option. nt

[Vegasaurus]

15. Why vote for him if you oppose his policies?

Seems like a throw away.

And you know how much protest has worked with this current president. What makes you think it will be different with the next?

[Violet_Crumble]

16. Gee, I think things will be different because the next President will be a Democrat...

You do realise there's a vast difference between the Democrats and Republicans, right?

btw, I opposed quite a few of the Labor Parties policies when I voted for them last November, and it should be clear to anyone doing a little bit of thinking that despite being opposed to some policies, the conservative alternative would be far worse...

[Vegasaurus]

17. But Tom has been very vocal about his distaste for Obama

Certainly he is more palatable to a democrat than McCain, but when one opposes the policies on the one trigger issue that seems to mater (to Tom, that is), why waste the vote?

Obama and McCain will both work to protect Israel. There is no doubt about that.

[Violet_Crumble]

19. So what? I was pretty vocal in my distaste for Kevin Rudd...

And I think I explained why I voted for him in terms that just about anyone could understand....

Protect Israel? It doesn't need protection. It's armed to the back teeth and is managing fine on it's own.