Dictator Cat Remains Out of the Bag

Spur-of-the-moment 'absurdity' burdens Obama's candidacy

By Jonas Oransky, Newser Staff

Posted May 23, 2008 1:51 PM CDT

(Newser) – Barack Obama was speaking off the cuff last summer when he deemed President Bush’s refusal to meet with dictators “a disgrace,” but “what started as a gaffe became policy,” Charles Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post. "By now, it has become doctrine." And whatever it's called, he writes, "It remains today what it was on the day he blurted it out: an absurdity."

“No one is debating the need for contacts,” Krauthammer allows, pausing briefly before continuing to excoriate the candidate. "The debate is over the stupidity of elevating rogue states and their tyrants, easing their isolation, and increasing their leverage by granting them unconditional meetings with the president of the world's superpower."

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at a town hall meeting at B'Nai Tora Congregation of Boca Raton in Boca Raton, Fla., Thursday, May 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama. (AP Photo)

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama. (AP Photo)

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Dictator Cat Remains Out of the Bag

Spur-of-the-moment 'absurdity' burdens Obama's candidacy

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Media Gaffe of the Year: the Obama/Osama Mixup

...and other mistakes

Obama Spins India Trip Into Job Mission

Critics scream about cost despite widely discredited report

Obama to UN: Time for Mideast Peace Is Now

Ignore the cynics, Obama urges

Obama and Netanyahu Reject Rumors of Rift

Both leaders say relations are strong between the two nations

Unlikely Allies Help Obama in Afghanistan

White House engages with Russia, China, and more, and gets results

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Barack Obama • diplomacy • gaffe • presidential candidates • summit meeting

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

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More Newser Stories

Media Gaffe of the Year: the Obama/Osama Mixup

...and other mistakes

Obama Spins India Trip Into Job Mission

Critics scream about cost despite widely discredited report

Obama to UN: Time for Mideast Peace Is Now

Ignore the cynics, Obama urges

Obama and Netanyahu Reject Rumors of Rift

Both leaders say relations are strong between the two nations

Unlikely Allies Help Obama in Afghanistan

White House engages with Russia, China, and more, and gets results

About Us

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Newser By Users

Community

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