McCain, Clinton and Obama on Iran

John McCain, in his speech to CPAC yesterday, had the following straightforward language about Iran, Israel and nuclear weapons:

[Senator Clinton and Senator Obama] won’t recognize and seriously address the threat posed by an Iran with nuclear ambitions to our ally, Israel, and the region.

I intend to make unmistakably clear to Iran we will not permit a government that espouses the destruction of the State of Israel as its fondest wish and pledges undying enmity to the United States to possess the weapons to advance their malevolent ambitions.

McCain’s statement caused me to look back at the answers Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama gave during the October 30, 2007 Democratic presidential debate to Tim Russert, who posed the same question in succession to each candidate:  “would you pledge to the American people that Iran will not develop a nuclear bomb while you are president?”

Hillary Clinton’s answer was a one-line talking point from which she laughably would not budge:

CLINTON:  I intend to do everything I can to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

RUSSERT:  But you won’t pledge?

CLINTON:  I am pledging I will do everything I can to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

RUSSERT:  But, they may.

CLINTON:  Well, you know, Tim, you asked me if I would pledge, and I have pledged that I will do everything I can to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

(LAUGHTER)

Barack Obama’s answer was that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself:

RUSSERT:  Senator Obama.

OBAMA:  I think all of us are committed to Iran not having nuclear weapons, and so we could potentially short circuit this.  (LAUGHTER).

But I think there is a larger point at stake, Tim, and that is, we have been governed by fear for the last six years.  And this president has used the fear of terrorism to launch a war that should have never been authorized.  We are seeing the same pattern now.  We are seeing the Republican nominees do the same thing. 

And it is very important for us to draw a clear line and say, “We are not going to be governed by fear.  We will take threats seriously.  We will take action to make sure that the United States is secure.”

As president of the United States, I will do everything in my power to keep us safe. But what we cannot continue to do is operate as if we are the weakest nation in the world instead of the strongest one, because that’s not who we are and that’s not what America has been about, historically.  And it is starting to warp our domestic policies, as well.

We haven’t even talked about civil liberties and the impact of that politics of fear — what that has done to us, in terms of undermining basic civil liberties in this country, what it has done in terms of our reputation around the world.

Somehow Obama’s answer did not remind one of FDR or JFK.