Ed Morrissey provides background on this. Basically, President Bush took a shot at Obama in the Israeli Parliament, saying Obama wants to “appease” the terrorists of today.

Team Obama shot back with this statement:

“Let’s not confuse precondition with preparation,” said Gibbs of any talks with Iran. “Obviously these meetings would be full of preparation. But we’re not going to sit down and engage Iran, unless or until they give up their nuclear weapons program.[”]

Really? Obama’s not going to sit down and engage Iran until they give up their weapons program? Funny, Obama’s said differently several times.

The CNN/YouTube debate:

An interview with The New York Times:

Senator Barack Obama said he would “engage in aggressive personal diplomacy” with Iran if elected president, and would offer economic inducements and a possible promise not to seek “regime change” if Iran stopped meddling in Iraq and cooperated on terrorism and nuclear issues…

Making clear that he planned to talk to Iran without preconditions, Mr. Obama emphasized further that “changes in behavior” by Iran could possibly be rewarded with membership in the World Trade Organization, other economic benefits and security guarantees…

Mr. Obama’s willingness to conduct talks at the highest level with Iran … differs significantly from the Bush administration.

And, in fact, Obama’s own website:

Diplomacy: Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.

Does Obama not consider Iran giving up its entire weapons program a “precondition”? Iran giving up its entire goal of being able to wipe Israel off the map isn’t considered a “precondition” before talks?

Ed Morrissey writes:

If Iran gave up its nuclear weapons program today, Bush would open diplomatic contacts with Iran and might even consider a summit. He’s made that very clear over the last few years, holding out WTO sponsorship and normalized relations in exchange for just that concession.If Obama now says he won’t meet with Iran until they surrender their nuclear-weapons program, how exactly does that differ from Bush? And how does that fit with his previous statements about having talks “without preconditions”?

Perhaps Team Obama should get together with their candidate and decide exactly what their policy towards Iran is.