Capital Outlook Viewpoint

Bush puts Obama on world stage

President George W. Bush did Barack Obama a great favor, but it very well could have been inadvertent. For one of the few times, what the president claims may actually be true.

"As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history," Bush said while speaking to Israel's parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem last week.

He called it a "foolish delusion" to think the U.S. can negotiate with terrorists.

Obama, the Democratic presidential front-runner and other Democrats took offense immediately, saying Bush was talking about Obama and Democrats in general because Obama says he will negotiate with “our enemies as well as our friends.”

Specifically he was talking about Iran, Syria and a couple of other countries, but not Hamas a terrorist group committed to the destruction of Israel.

Democrats were outraged. Hillary Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination called Bush's statement insulting. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, called it “bull----” and he had a few other choice words for Bush.

But Obama, clearly speaking for the party as well as himself took a strong and bold approach, condemning Bush and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain and challenging them both to a debate on national security.

Bush's staff, however, said the president was talking neither about Obama nor the Democratic Party. They said he was talking about former President Jimmy Carter who met with Hamas several days ago. That makes sense. Bush very well could have been talking about Carter, but he didn't call any names and the reasonable conclusion of virtually everyone except perhaps his staff, is that he was talking about Obama and the Democrats.

How it helped Obama is that it gave him an international stage on par with the president and made secondary his primary race with Hillary Clinton for the nomination.

Obama took advantage of that Friday afternoon with a powerful, direct confrontation, tying together Bush and McCain on what Obama calls a “failed foreign policy.”

Suddenly it appeared that the race for the Democratic nomination had become Page 2 news. Obama was on the international stage fighting a general election battle and was perceived even more as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, although that issue is yet to be settled.

That's going to make it tough for Hillary Clinton to persuade Democratic super (unelected) delegates to choose her over Obama when he holds the lead in delegates, states won and the popular vote. Another important thing that Bush's remarks did was unify the Democratic Party to the extent they were all speaking in one voice with Obama the party spokesman. And Obama handled it well. He handled it like a president, and a lot of people are not going to forget that.

So thanks to George W Bush, whether it was deliberate or inadvertent, he created a stage for Barack Obama and the curtain of that stage seem to be closing on Hillary Clinton.

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