Obama: A flip-flop on Jerusalem?
Posted: Friday, June 06, 2008 9:18 AM by Mark Murray
Um, it took Obama just 24 hours to backtrack on something he said on Wednesday at the AIPAC conference. The Washington Post: "Facing criticism from Palestinians, Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged today that the status of Jerusalem will need to be negotiated in future peace talks, amending a statement earlier in the week that Jerusalem ‘must remain undivided.’ Obama, during a speech Wednesday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, had called for Jerusalem to become the site of the U.S. embassy, a frequent pledge for U.S. presidential candidates. (It is now in Tel Aviv.) But his statement that Jerusalem should be the undivided capital of Israel drew a swift rebuke from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.”
“‘This statement is totally rejected,’ Abbas told reporters in Ramallah. ‘The whole world knows that holy Jerusalem was occupied in 1967 and we will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.’ The Bush administration's official position is that the status of Jerusalem is among the most sensitive issues and must be decided by the parties. Former President Bill Clinton, before he left office, had proposed a formula under which ‘Jerusalem should be an open and undivided city,’ including locating the Palestian capital in East Jerusalem.”
“Obama quickly backtracked today in an interview with CNN. ‘Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations,’ Obama said when asked whether Palestinians had no future claim to the city.’”
Wright dominated. "The story of Wright and his race-based rants against United States policies surfaced in March and received four times more coverage than any other theme or event throughout the campaign, according to data compiled by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, an arm of the Pew Research Center in Washington. The issue undercut Obama with working-class white voters in the later primaries, most analysts have said."
More: "Excluding the horse race-type coverage of tactics and strategy, the Obama-Wright story accounted for 6.4 percent of the campaign coverage of the media outlets surveyed between Jan. 6 and May 4. The next closest campaign story, at 1.6 percent, was the running story about the role of so-called superdelegates in determining the Democratic nomination, followed at 1.5 percent by Obama's remarks in April at a San Francisco fund-raiser that white working-class and small-town voters were 'bitter' and 'cling to guns or religion' in frustration."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today endorsed Obama. "Over the past 16 months, tens of millions of Americans from all walks of life have been inspired to support Barack Obama's historic campaign for President, and with good reason: he is a once-in-a-generation leader who connects with the hopes and dreams of the American people and will deliver the long-overdue change that our country desperately needs,” he said in a statement. “I could not be more excited to have Senator Obama lead a united Democratic Party to victory in November and I am committed to doing everything I can to help.”
"I also congratulate Hillary Clinton for her tremendous contributions in this campaign and for our country. She is a wonderful Senator and friend whose vision and determination have made our party stronger. There is no question that she will continue to be a force for change.
