Obama: Bush and Clinton are the same on Iran

The United States' policy involving Iran will definitely be an important issue in the upcoming presidential election between John McCain and either Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton. But if it seems that the differences on this issue are between the Republicans and Democrats, it became apparent on Sunday that the gap between Clinton's and Obama's take on Iran is just as wide.

While American policy towards Israel does not seem to be an issue, Israel still finds itself in the middle of an acute disagreement between Obama and Clinton. Obama says Hillary's language towards Iran "is reflective of George Bush." Clinton says "why would I have any regrets?"

The debate on Iran heated up Sunday between 10 and 11 A.M., a time slot devoted to morning talk shows. On NBC's "Meet the Press", Obama went on the attack. On ABC, Clinton shot back.

Over the past two weeks, Clinton's tone on Iran has gotten harsher. In the debate with Obama in Philadelphia just before the Pennsylvania primary, she suggested that an umbrella of defense should be established to protect Israel and other moderate Arab countries from an Iranian attack.

Later, she stepped up her attack saying that she would "totally obliterate" the Iranians if they dare attack Israel with nuclear weapons. The Washington Post devoted a long piece this Sunday to the analyzing of Clinton's new stance with the help of a number of experts on Middle East strategy. The experts interviewed debated her policy - but Obama's standpoint on Iran was clear on Sunday. "It's not the language we need right now," he said, "we have had a foreign policy of bluster and saber rattling."

Obama believes that the purpose of Clinton's "tough talk" is too political. Obama reminded Clinton that in the past she said that "we should not speculate about Iran," and that suddenly now, a few days before a two crucial primaries, she is doing exactly that.

Clinton had a chance to answer Obama on ABC's talk show. "Yes, we would have massive retaliation against Iran," she said, "if Iran attacked our ally, a country that many of us have a great deal of, you know, connection with and feeling for, for all kinds of reasons. Clinton was referring to Israel. She does not think Iran will attack but she wanted to make it clear that if they did, it would come at a "tremendous cost" to the Iranians. In the interview, Clinton did not elaborate on her umbrella plan for Israel and other moderate Arab countries. Experts say that the President would not have a problem receiving congress' support for a plan to protect Israel. The same, however, cannot be said regarding Arab countries.

The latest debate solidifies the differences between Obama and Clinton on the Iranian issue. They have argued about this issue in the past, when Clinton decided to support the Kyl-Lieberman bill that defines Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group. Obama, who used the bill to show that Clinton is the just like Bush and Cheney, has stated that he is willing to begin a dialogue with Iran and meet with the Iranian leaders. Clinton said she would only meet with Iran if they freeze their nuclear program. The fact that Obama did not support the bill was a key factor in National Journal's decision to vote him the most liberal senator. John McCain's campaign has begun to use this label to paint Obama into a corner he does not want to be in.

In the beginning of her campaign, Clinton tried to minimize the fact that she voted in favor of the bill in order to avoid pushing away the liberal vote. Over the past few weeks, however, she has apparently decided that she lost those voters a long time ago anyway, and she is better off accentuating her stance on Iran instead of running from it.

From Israel's point of view it is an interesting - but rather disturbing - debate. Most of the questions revolve around what the U.S. will do once Iran already has nuclear weapons and not how to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear power in the first place. That may be the stance that McCain will take if the incredible happens and Clinton wins the primaries and not Obama.