US:The president has warned of the 'delusion' of talking to hostile leaders, writes Denis Staunton
BARACK OBAMA has accused President Bush of targeting him with a "false political attack" by comparing the Democrat's proposal to talk to hostile leaders with appeasing Hitler.
In a speech to the Knesset in Jerusalem yesterday, Mr Bush said it was a mistake to disregard the words of leaders who espouse hatred.
"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," Mr Bush said.
"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."
Mr Obama, who has said he would hold unconditional talks with the leaders of Iran, North Korea and Cuba, issued an angry statement denouncing the president's remarks.
"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," he said.
"George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicisation of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president was not referring specifically to Mr Obama but to a number of US politicians who favoured negotiating with enemies.
"I understand when you're running for office you sometimes think the world revolves around you. That is not always true and it is not true in this case," she said.
As leading Democrats joined in the condemnation of Mr Bush's remarks, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean called on presumptive Republican nominee John McCain to distance himself from the president's statement.
"If John McCain is really serious about being a different kind of Republican, he'll denounce these remarks in the strongest terms possible," Mr Dean said.
Mr McCain said he did not believe the president was referring to Mr Obama but he added that the controversy highlighted questions about the Democrat's judgment and experience.
"This does bring up an issue that we will be discussing with the American people and that is why does Barack Obama, Senator Obama, want to sit down with a state sponsor of terrorism?" Mr McCain asked.
The row over the president's remarks came a day after Mr Obama won the endorsement of his former rival, John Edwards, who joined him at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Both Mr Obama and Hillary Clinton had lobbied vigorously for Mr Edwards's support since he left the Democratic race in January after a campaign that highlighted economic inequality.
"The Democratic voters in America have made their choice, and so have I," Mr Edwards said.
"There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to create one America - not two - and that man is Barack Obama."
The endorsement overshadowed Mrs Clinton's victory in West Virginia this week and bolstered Mr Obama's claim to be his party's presumptive nominee.
Mr Edwards is popular among blue-collar voters and the United Steelworkers' Union, which had supported him, yesterday swung behind Mr Obama.
Four of the 19 delegates who were committed to Mr Edwards also said yesterday they would now back Mr Obama.
In Columbus, Ohio, yesterday, Mr McCain outlined what he hoped would be the achievements of his first term as president, including victory in Iraq, which would be a functioning democracy with only spasmodic violence.
Mr McCain said that unlike Mr Bush, he would not seek to expand the powers of the presidency by attaching "signing statements" to Bills passed by Congress.
"I will not subvert the purpose of legislation I have signed by making statements that indicate I will enforce only the parts of it I like," he said.
"I will respect the responsibilities the constitution and the American people have granted Congress, and will, as I often have in the past, work with anyone of either party to get things done for our country."