“We’re gonna try this again. Apparently I wasn’t clear enough this morning on my position with respect to the war in Iraq,” Senator Obama began his second media avail of the day. Obviously annoyed with reports that he’d hedged his position on troop withdrawals from Iraq after he told reporters that he would “continue to refine” his policies after his upcoming visit to Iraq, the campaign held a second avail to attempt to clarify his views on the matter.

“I guess I’m just puzzled,” he told reporters at the second media avail. “I think what’s happened is that the McCain campaign primed the pump with the press to suggest that somehow we were changing our policy when we hadn’t and that just hasn’t been the case. I’ve given no indication of a change in policy. I haven’t suggested that we’re moving in a different direction.”

The candidate and the campaign maintain the senator has been clear all along: he will end the war, but do so carefully. The point of contention – in the primary phase of the election, Barack Obama spoke often of a 16-month timetable for withdrawing all combat troops from Iraq, but in the general election, the candidate has not used that language for some time now. Obama explained that was merely the result of a poor economy taking center stage, but there have been rumblings in political circles he was softening his stance on troop withdrawal, especially when he inserted nuanced language that this is what he “intends” to do as President.

Not so, says Obama. “I have said throughout this campaign that this war was ill conceived, that it was a strategic blunder, and that it needs to come to an end. I’ve also said that I will be deliberate and careful in how we got out, that I would bring our troops home in the pace of one to two brigades per month and that that pace we would have our combat troops out in 16 months. That position has not changed. I have not equivocated on that position. I am not searching for maneuvering room with respect to that position,” he explained, adding that he had not seen any information that contradicts that timetable.

Rather Obama insisted he never guaranteed all troops would be out of Iraq in 16 months, and the campaign sent along a list of quotes where he said similar language in the midst of the Democratic primary.  “I believe that we should have all our troops out by 2013, but I don’t want to make promises, not knowing what the situation’s going to be three or four years out,” then underdog Obama said in a September Democratic debate.

Today he continued to defend his unwillingness to promise a date of withdrawal as he will continue to weigh advice from those on the ground in Iraq. “I would always reserve the right to do what’s best in America’s national interest, and if it turned out, for example, that we had to in certain months slow the pace because of the safety of American troops in terms of getting combat troops out, of course we would take that into account. I would be a poor Commander-in-Chief if I didn’t take facts on the ground into account,” he said.

During the primary slog, Barack Obama ran as the antiwar candidate who would end the war by removing one or two brigades a month until all combat forces are out of Iraq in about 16 months - a calculation Obama touted to Democratic voters. He claimed that he was the candidate who could best end the war since he had been against the invasion of Iraq from the beginning. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand he would point out, had shifted her stance on the war.

But now as Obama enters the general election phase where he must compete for a wider range of voters, he has been talking less about troop withdrawal - something he explained was because he’d been spending a lot of time talking about the economy.

Today the RNC sent out an email to political reporters suggesting Obama would soon reverse, or at least soften his position on troop withdrawal in Iraq. In the body of the email was a lone quote from a Liberal DC think tank analyst, who wrote an OP-ED in today’s Washington Times. “Three or four of his Iraq advisers are hinting of greater flexibility. … That indicates the potential for some change in his previous position or at least some flexibility,” the quote read.

Today at a press availability in Fargo, North Dakota, Obama dismissed the claims as “pure speculation,” and that he has been consistent all along. “I believe the war in Iraq was a mistake, that we need to bring this war to a responsible end. I have said repeatedly, although it was recently quoted as something new, that we need to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in and that view has not changed…I have always said that I will listen to commanders on the ground; I’ve always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability,” he said.

Noting his planned trip to Iraq this summer on a Congressional Delegation, Obama said, “When I go to Iraq and I have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I’m sure I’ll have more information and will continue to refine my policies,” acknowledging that his views on Iraq are not static.

So is this a “reversal” for the anti-war Democrat to appeal to more conservative voters? The Obama camp says it is not, and pointed reporters to a list of quotes showing the candidate has used similar language throughout his candidacy - including a quote from a television interview immediately following his announcement last February.

“What happens [in Iraq] is dictated by conditions on the ground and what the commanders say,” he told 60 Minutes on February 11, 2007. And in a nationally televised debate last September, Obama cautioned, “I believe that we should have all our troops out by 2013, but I don’t want to make promises, not knowing what the situation’s going to be three or four years out.”

Read the entire list of quotes below the jump.

(more…)

Just days after Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met with Republican candidate for president, John McCain, he took a phone call from Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

The two spoke as the Senator drove from his home in Chicago to Midway Airport this morning. When the candidate landed in Flint, Michigan, for his speech on competitiveness, Obama shared with reporters details about his conversation.

Obama said during the conversation, “We discussed a broad range of issues I thought it was very constructive. He emphasized to me his belief that as a consequence of the extraordinary efforts and sacrifice of US military forces, we’ve made significant progress in quelling the violence in Iraq. And that the Iraqi government is deeply interested in negotiating an effective Status of Forces agreement and a strategic framework agreement with the United States.”

Of course Obama is the candidate in the race who will begin withdrawing troops from Iraq, and has campaigned on such a platform since he got into the race. He said he told Zebari that while he was encouraged by the reduction of violence in Iraq, he “insisted that it is important for us to begin the process of withdrawing US troops, making clear that we have no interest in permanent bases in Iraq, that any negotiations for a Status of Forces agreement or strategic framework agreement should be done in the open and with Congress’s authorization, because I believe that it’s in the interests of both Iraq and the United States that any such critical negotiations have strong bipartisan support and that they can be sustained through a future administration.”

He also stressed the need for the need for “political accommodations” and the importance of engaging nearby countries. Finally, he said, “I gave him an assurance that should we be elected, an Obama administration will make sure that we continue with the progress that’s been made in Iraq, that we won’t act precipitously, but that we will move to end US combat forces in Iraq in a manner that’s as careful as we were careless getting in.”

When the Senator was asked if the Foreign Minister expressed concern for withdrawal, Obama replied, “No - he did not express that. He did emphasized his belief that we’ve made real progress and I think was eager to see political accommodations between the factions follow up in the wake of this progress.”

And on the much ballyhooed visit to Iraq, Obama said, “I told him that I look forward to seeing him in Baghdad.” A reporter asked if the trip might be before the Democrats’ August convention. “You know, we’ll make an announcement about that, but as I said, I’m interested in visiting Iraq and Afghanistan before the election.”

The RNC, which has been tracking the days since Obama’s last visit to the country in 2006, welcomes such a trip. “In the nearly 900 days since Barack Obama visited Iraq, the facts on the ground have changed dramatically – but his ideologically-driven position has not. When Obama visits Iraq, he’ll see that he was wrong to oppose the surge, wrong to continue to ignore our commanders’ advice and wrong to demand premature withdrawal. America cannot afford a Commander-in-Chief who needs on-the-job training,” said spokesman Alex Conant in a statement.

Obama visited the Cowboy State for the first time as a presidential candidate to return fire directed at his campaign. And to give residents of Casper, Wyoming, a show - something the normally politically quiet state hasn’t seen the likes of in some time.

Responding to criticism from his Democratic rival about comments his now-former foreign policy advisor made to the BBC, Barack Obama said, “Now, I just have to mention this because I don’t want anybody here to be confused.” Clinton had quoted Samantha Power at an event earlier today, who had told the BBC that while Obama has given a timeframe for withdrawal in Iraq, it would depend on the situation at the time.

To clear up the confusion, Obama defiantly said, “If it has been up to me we would have never been in this war. It was because of George Bush with an assist from Hillary Clinton and John McCain that we entered into this war. A war that should have never been authorized, a war that should have never been waged. I’ve been against it - 2002, 2003, 2004, 5, 6, 7, 8. And I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don’t be confused.” He continued, “Don’t be confused when Senator Clinton is not even willing to acknowledge that she voted for war. She says she voted for diplomacy despite the title that said authorization to use US armed forces in Iraq. So I don’t want to play politics on this issue because she doesn’t have standing to question my position on this issue.”

Obama also brought up that pesky “red phone” ad that may have cost him votes in Texas - part of what he calls the “politics of fear.” “I mean, what do people think I’m going to do? I’m going to answer the phone,” he said as the crowd laughed. “And I will find out what’s going on, and I won’t be, and I won’t be browbeaten into launching a war that wasn’t necessary, I will get all the information about what crisis is taking place, and I will exercise the same judgment that I have shown over the last several issues ranging from, ranging from Iraq to Pakistan to all the other issues that are going to be so critical for the next president to deal with.”

If Casper wasn’t awake by the end of his animated town hall, he definitely got their attention (and that of his traveling press corps) when he brought up the experience issue - something that has plagued his candidacy from the beginning. “Senator Clinton and Senator McCain, they say, ‘We’ve got all these years of experience and this and that and the other.’ Look who’s run the best campaign. Look who’s managed this campaign from scratch. You know, that’s worth taking a look at. Look at what we’ve built from scratch to compete against people who have been building this thing for 20, 30 years, and we’ve done just fine.”

Obama heads to Laramie to hold a rally on the campus of the University of Wyoming before returning to Chicago later tonight.