Three well-known Democrats have distanced themselves from Obama’s foreign policy, Michael Goldfarb points out. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, says Obama gave the wrong answer:

“What we’re talking about here is that he has repeatedly since then said he would not negotiate unconditionally, meaning him sitting down, alone, right off the bat with these leaders. He’s talked about his Secretary of State, his Secretary of Defense. Matter of a fact, the statements he use mirrors the statement the rest of us have been talking about. This is a fellow who I think shorthanded an answer that in fact was the wrong answer, in my view, saying I would within my first year, it implied he’d personally sit down with anybody who wanted to sit down with him.

Harold Ford, Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, had this to say on Meet the Press:

“Barack Obama’s challenge, I’ll concede, you cannot meet with foreign leaders — with terrorists, rather, those that lead rogue nations without some conditions.”

Gary Hart told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer:

I don’t think Barack Obama or any other President is going to meet with a head of state without lower-level discussions preceding that.

With the exception of Ford, they’re all wrong. Biden seems to contend that Obama communicated poorly, and he had incorrectly indicated (in “shorthand”) that he’d meet personally with these leaders. Actually, Obama’s own website states:

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

As for Hart, Obama’s website again proves otherwise. Obama supports unconditional, “direct presidential diplomacy”, which he was even praised for by several on the left.