Joe Klein gets Clintonian in his defense of Obama:
[Novak] goes on to misrepresent (a) my questioning of McCain this week and (b)Obama's position on talking to Ahmadinejad, which is muddy, to say the least, but has never included the following statement, "I will meet unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
When Obama was asked if he would meet Ahmadinejad without preconditions in the first year of his presidency, he answered "I would." Apparently Klein needs him to spell it out, and yet remains completely unconcerned by the fact that Obama refuses to clarify his position on the issue. But Klein is also working another strategy, which involves minimizing A'jad's role in Iranian foreign policy:
Ever since [the YouTube debate], Obama has been creatively fuzzy when asked directly if he would meet with Ahmadinejad - and he has begun to point out that the real leaders of Iran are the clerics led by the Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, who controls Iran's foreign policy and its nuclear program.
This will come as news to the rest of the players in the Middle East:
According to the newspaper, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem updated Ahmadinejad during a visit to Teheran some weeks ago on the status of his nation's secret diplomatic contacts with Israel.
Why are the Syrians updating A'jad when he doesn't have any say in the matter? Aren't they reading Joe Klein?