"It is a little frustrating for ...the former president to continually repeat this notion that somehow I didn't know where I stood in 2004 about the war. He keeps on giving half the quote. I was always against the war.
"The quote he keeps on feeding back was an interview on Meet the Press at the National Convention when Tim (Russert) was asking, `Given your firm opposition to the war, what do you make of the fact that your nominee for president and vice president didn't have that same foresight.'
"And obviously I didn't want to criticize them on the eve of their nomination. So I said, `Well, I don't know what -- you know, I wasn't in the Senate. I can't say for certain what I would have done if I was there. I know that from where I stood the case was not made.' He always leaves that out.
"And you know, I understand why he's frustrated. But at some point since we've corrected him repeatedly on this and he keeps on repeating it, you know it tells me that he's just more interested in trying to muddy the waters than actually talk fairly about my record."
Then this morning on NPR he said he didn't want to leave troops in action without the proper resources to come home alive. I don't know if that's an oversimplification or not--it may be. But the response above is accurate and you need only look for the Tim Russert clip to find the full context. You've been reading the wrong things. He's responded several times, it's just that the Clintons (and Bill especially) get more press.
Obama's response:
"It is a little frustrating for ...the former president to continually repeat this notion that somehow I didn't know where I stood in 2004 about the war. He keeps on giving half the quote. I was always against the war.
"The quote he keeps on feeding back was an interview on Meet the Press at the National Convention when Tim (Russert) was asking, `Given your firm opposition to the war, what do you make of the fact that your nominee for president and vice president didn't have that same foresight.'
"And obviously I didn't want to criticize them on the eve of their nomination. So I said, `Well, I don't know what -- you know, I wasn't in the Senate. I can't say for certain what I would have done if I was there. I know that from where I stood the case was not made.' He always leaves that out.
"And you know, I understand why he's frustrated. But at some point since we've corrected him repeatedly on this and he keeps on repeating it, you know it tells me that he's just more interested in trying to muddy the waters than actually talk fairly about my record."
Then this morning on NPR he said he didn't want to leave troops in action without the proper resources to come home alive. I don't know if that's an oversimplification or not--it may be. But the response above is accurate and you need only look for the Tim Russert clip to find the full context. You've been reading the wrong things. He's responded several times, it's just that the Clintons (and Bill especially) get more press.