Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the last subject I would like to comment on is an unrelated subject. It has to do with comments the President was overheard making in a meeting he was holding with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev at the Nuclear Security Summit in South Korea. He had a hot mike which captured comments he was making privately to President Medvedev. He requested a little space, as he put it, in negotiations over missile defense issues until after the election when he said he would have more flexibility. Well, obviously, this presents a problem that is going to have to be discussed with the Congress because if the President is, in effect, saying he would like to make a deal to limit U.S. missile defenses now, but he would be accountable to the American public if they became aware of it before his reelection bid, it would be very difficult for him to make the kind of concessions that President Medvedev wants. But if the Russian President would just wait until after the next election, then the President will have more flexibility to work with the Russians on what they want. Well, President Medvedev very helpfully said: I will pass this on to Vladimir. Here are a few things we know: We know President Obama canceled plans to station antiballistic defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. We know the President supported language in a new START treaty to link missile defense to nuclear reduction.…”