Barack Obama was extremely well-received at the AIPAC Policy Conference this morning, with a delegate from Illinois introducing him as "the presumptive Democratic nominee" to enthusiastic applause. After saluting Hillary Clinton with high praise like "extraordinary leader in the Democratic Party" and "great candidate," he (only half) joked that the audience shouldn't pay any attention to those nasty e-mails they've been getting. "Let me know if you’ve seen this guy Barack Obama, because he seems pretty scary," he grinned.
Obama launched into the standard AIPAC fare about America standing by Israel, but then did something that neither Majority Leader Harry Reid nor Speaker Nancy Pelosi did in their speeches before his: criticize the Iraq War. Neither Reid nor Pelosi even mentioned Iraq, instead focusing on the dangers of Iran's nuclear ambitions, but Obama seized on that theme to make his point about Iraq: because of the war in Iraq, Iran is emboldened and strengthened -- and Iran was the greater threat in the first place. Other than that, though, Obama didn't stray much from the standard AIPAC playbook, stepping out of line only to propose "freezing settlements" (but no more) and to call for a phased withdrawal from Iraq, neither of which played well here. Certainly yesterday John McCain got far heartier applause for his praise for the surge and for Gen. David Petreaus.
Clinton's speech was schizophrenic: at first, it felt like she was conceding (not formally) that Obama is the nominee, at one point saying, "Let me be clear: I know that Sen. Obama will be a good friend to Israel.... Let me underscore we need a Democrat in the White House next January." Bush, she said, "'has pushed us in the wrong direction" and McCain "will follow the same failed policies in Iraq." America, she said, "needs a new beginning in foreign policy. . . . we must seize this moment." We, one would presume, refers not just to America, but to the Democratic Party.
But Clinton then went on to suggest the Obama is willing to negotiate directly with Hamas, an accusation that was brazenly McCain-esque, and counterproductive to her suggestion of unity just moments earlier. (Obama had just finished refuting the falsehood, peddled by McCain, that he would negotiate directly and unconditionally with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.) Clinton was at once conciliatory and combative, at once Senatorial and candidate-like, but ultimately seemed defeated and tired. I keep thinking she's had her last hurrah, but it always turns out she's got a very protracted (and self-promoting) cheer. If she was angling for a spot as his running mate, she should have been at least as complimentary of Obama as he was of her. But her speech sounded like she couldn't decide what chord to strike, and the result was a baffling mish-mash that clarified nothing about her intentions.
--Sarah Posner
