The British daily Guardian wrote on May 22, 2008: Barack Obama has begun to edge away from his offer to pursue talks with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahamdinejad after being hammered by Republicans as an “appeaser”.
But with the November election in his sights, Obama backed away from his promise last year to meet Ahamdinejad without preconditions during his first year in the White House.
His campaign has stopped mentioning Ahamdinejad by name, and noting that there must be “preparations” for such an encounter.
On Tuesday, Obama’s foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, told CNN that he did not necessarily mean he would meet Ahamdinejad when he offered to open talks with Iran. “He hasn’t named who that leader will be,” she said. “It may, in fact be that by the middle of next year, Ahamdinejad is long gone.”