Bush Challenges Obama's Foreign Policy Assertions

WASHINGTON — President Bush heaped criticism on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday for saying he would meet with leaders of nations hostile to the United States.

Bush also rapped Obama for recent comments about Iraq, and slammed Obama and Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton for saying the North American Free Trade Agreement should be renegotiated.

The criticism came during a news conference that began and ended with Bush saying he would not be drawn into the race to replace him.

"You're trying to get me to be the pundit again," he said in deflecting a question about whether the nation's faltering economy would hurt the GOP presidential candidate – as it did his dad in 1992. "Look, you all figure that out."

Bush was particularly hard on Obama for saying, as president, he would meet with the leaders of Cuba, Iran and North Korea. At a Feb. 21 debate in Austin, Obama, drawing applause, said, "It's important for the United States not just to talk to its friends, but also to talk to its enemies. In fact, that's where diplomacy makes the biggest difference."

Bush teed off on the notion when it was posed in a question about "what is lost by talking with those with whom we disagree."

"What's lost by embracing a tyrant who puts his people in prison because of their political beliefs? What's lost is it'll send the wrong message. It'll send a discouraging message to those who wonder whether America will continue to work for the freedom of prisoners," he said. "It'll give great status to those who have suppressed human rights and human dignity."

"I'm not suggesting there's never a time to talk, but I'm suggesting now is not the time ... to talk with (new Cuban President) Raul Castro. He's nothing more than the extension of what his brother did, which was to ruin an island and imprison people because of their beliefs," Bush said.

In a statement issued by his campaign, Obama said Bush's approach to Cuba has accomplished nothing.

"The American people aren't looking for more of a do-nothing Cuba policy that has failed to secure the release of dissidents, failed to bring democracy to the island, and failed to advance freedom for fifty years, because they know we need to pursue new opportunities to achieve liberty for the Cuban people," Obama said, adding he plans to "fundamentally change our foreign policy to secure the American people and restore our standing in the world."

Bush scoffed at the notion of a U.S. president taking an approach of "Well, I'm going to tell him ... to release the prisoners," a human-rights message he has taken to leaders such as Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Hu Jintao.

"Well, it's a theory that all you got to do is embrace and these tyrants act," he said, adding that presidential discussions "with certain international figures can be extremely counterproductive. It can send chilling signals and messages to our allies. It can send confusion about our foreign policy. It discourages reformers inside their own country."

Bush defended his close personal relationship with Putin, a leader with whom Bush said he has had some "diplomatic head butts."

"I learned that it's important to establish personal relations with leaders even though you may not agree with them – certain leaders," said Bush. "Now I'm not going to have a personal relationship with (North Korea's) Kim Jong Il, and our relationships are such that that's impossible. But U.S.-Russian relations are important. It's important for stability."

Bush also challenged Obama's recent comment about having to take military action "if al-Qaida is forming a base in Iraq."

"Yes," Bush said, "well, that's exactly what they've been trying to do for the past four years."

Asked later if he felt Obama's comment was evidence of naiveté about Iraq, Bush said, "I believe Senator Obama better stay focused on his campaign with Senator Clinton, neither of whom has secured their party's nomination yet."

Bush also took shots at calls by Obama and Clinton to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal the Democratic candidates say has cost jobs in some parts of the United States. He endorsed NAFTA in its current form and said that unilaterally withdrawing from a trade treaty because "trying to score political points" is not good policy.

"It's not good policy on the merits and it's not good policy as a message to send to our ... people who have in good faith signed a treaty and worked with us on a treaty," he said.

"Those of us who grew up in Texas remember what the border looked like when we were kids. And it was really poor. And, you go down to that border today, it is prosperous on both sides of the river, to the credit of those who proposed NAFTA and to the credit of those who got NAFTA through the Congress," Bush said.

Despite his tough talk on campaign-trail issues, Bush demurred when asked if he still believes, as he predicted last year, that Clinton will be the Democratic nominee.

"Pardon me?" he said when the question was asked.

It was repeated, drawing this response from a president fresh from criticizing Clinton and Obama: "I'm not talking about politics."

Bush also used the press conference to urge the House to pass a Senate-approved measure granting lawsuit immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on foreign calls into the U.S. after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The immunity is included in legislation needed to continue the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Bush sees as crucial to preventing more attacks.

"Allowing the lawsuits to proceed could aid our enemies," Bush said, referring to court action taken on behalf of Americans who believe their privacy was illegally invaded, "because the litigation process could lead to the disclosure of information about how we conduct surveillance and it would give al-Qaida and others a road map as to how to avoid the surveillance."

Bush also acknowledged increasing signs of problems in the U.S. economy.

"There's no question the economy has slowed down," he said, adding, "I don't think we're headed to recession. But no question, we're in a slowdown."