What Obama Said

Amanda Carpenter | April 08, 2008 6:54 PM

I covered what Hillary and McCain said during the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier today, but thought I'd post over here what Obama had to say during the Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

First off, I think it's worth noting he skipped ahead in speaking order because as Sen. Ben Nelson (D.-Fla.) who gave up his turn for Obama said, Obama had a "scheduling conflict."

Yeah. Apparently, Obama couldn't pencil in enough time for the General and the Ambassador to sit through a whole hearing. He's got two "closed-door" fundraisers tonight.

Anyway, in his time Obama promoted a "diplomatic surge" which included talks with Iran, reiterated his opposition to the war and blamed the Bush administration for other tensions in the region.

Unlike Hillary, who used a portion of her allocated six minutes of Q & A to respond to attacks McCain made on Clinton and Obama on the campaign trail, Obama mainly stuck to script.

"I continue to believe that the original decision to go to Iraq was a massive, strategic blunder, that the two problems you pointed out, Al-Qaeda in Iraq and increased Iranian influence in the region are a direct result of that original decision." Obama told Petreaus and Crocker. "That's not a decision you gentleman made. I will not lay it at your feet. You are cleaning up the mess afterwards."