I'm serious. He said those exact words.
I wish I were kidding.
It's sad to see a promising campaign imploding with such foolishness.
I'm sure that his detractors will enjoy reading what lies below the fold.
Maybe his supporters, the naifs that they are, will too.
The Des Moines Register was the first to detail his nonsense:
"In the last few weeks, some folks in Washington have been giving me a hard time because I’ve challenged the conventional wisdom, the brains in Washington. I’ve been called naïve," Obama said. "I’ve been told we shouldn’t speak out."
Well, okay so far. Maybe he's learned his lesson. He shouldn't challenge the conventional wisdom. He shouldn't say everything that he thinks on foreign policy.
Oh no.
"I reject that," Obama said. "I trust the American people. I think American people are tired of presidents who don’t trust the American people and aren’t willing to tell them the truth."
Obama, you idiot! You don't say stuff like that in front of the v-o-t-e-r-s. Come on now. What right do they have to know what you'll do with the power of Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces?
As if that wasn't bad enough, he not only failed to retract his heresy, but actually went even further!!!
Obama said Clinton and other candidates appeared experienced because they were just saying what is traditionally expected of a candidate.
"There is, not just with Senator Clinton, but with a lot of my opponents, a premium on reciting the conventional wisdom in Washington and that's what passes for experience -- how well you do that," Obama told reporters during a five-day tour of Iowa.
"My argument in this race is, it's that kind of rote approach to foreign policy that led a lot of people who should have known better to get into Iraq," he said. "It is an approach that we have to change in a much more far-reaching fashion."
We can't have people challenging the conventional wisdom of our englightened Foreign Policy Establishment. What do you think this is, a democracy?
The Clinton campaign, true to form, provided a devastating rebuttal to his charge that she relies on rote rhetoric by responding with . . . rote rhetoric:
"Hillary Clinton has fought for change her whole life and she is the candidate with the strength and experience to make change happen starting in 2009," said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer.
Not content to challenge conventional thinking and inside-the-beltway wisdom, Obama then irresponsibly decried the role of fear in our politics.
Obama said a new administration needs to put an end to "conventional thinking" that builds up a climate of fear.
"Part of the problem in our foreign policy is that the administration obfuscates, distracts and tries to play on the fears of the American people. The next president has to be able to talk very clearly to the American people," he said.
The recklessness continued as he decided to talk common sense (the nerve!):
Obama cited his vow not to use nuclear weapons in any attacks on al Qaeda targets in Pakistan. Clinton has said nuclear deterrence is vital to help keep the peace.
But Obama said many military experts have told him nuclear weapons would never be used in a potential attack on a terrorist cell in Pakistan.
"Then I think it (is) ... fair to say we'd use conventional weapons and not nuclear weapons," Obama said to cheers of several hundred supporters in Council Bluffs. "There's nothing naive about saying that."
Of course that's reality. But you're not supposed to discuss reality when dealing with the American people, silly.
Finally, Obama pretended that people want change from Bush/Cheney, and that their experience hasn't led to good results.
In Council Bluffs and Atlantic, Obama received standing ovations for his calls for change. Each time, he also noted that he is called inexperienced.
"When people say experience, what they're really saying is -- do you have good judgment?" he said. Former Defense Secretary "Donald Rumsfeld and (Vice President) Dick Cheney have a lot of experience, but they didn't have a lot of good judgment when it came to foreign policy. Part of what I offer is good judgment."
Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney recognized that Iraq was a dire threat to the United States and needed to be taken out, regardless of the consequences. Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, and Joe Biden all agreed that Dick Cheney and Bush ought to have the authority to invade Iraq.
Who are you to disagree with them, Barack Obama?