Obama Defends University's Invite to Ahmadinejad
Sept. 24, 2007 — -- Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama defended the right of his alma mater, Columbia University, to invite Iranian President Ahmadinejad to speak, but the Illinois senator also said that if were president of the university, he would not have made the same decision.
Obama, who received his bachelor's degree from Columbia in 1983, said, "It's not a choice I would have made, but we don't need to be fearful of the rantings of somebody like Ahmadinejad. All we need to do is just to know what our values and ideals are and be clear about what America stands for."
A fair share of criticism was directed at the Ivy League university -- from both sides of the aisle -- for the invitation it extended to the Iranian firebrand: Ahmadinejad has previously called the Holocaust "a myth" and said Israel should be "wiped off the map."
Obama said he would have denied Ahmadinejad the opportunity to speak at Columbia because he has "other forums" available to him in New York, including his address before the United Nations General Assembly.
Still, Obama continued to insist that as president, he would be willing to meet one-on-one with Ahmadinejad.
"Nothing's changed with respect to my belief that strong countries and strong presidents talk to their enemies and talk to their adversaries," Obama said. "Listening to the views, even of those whom we violently disagree with, that sends a signal to the world that we are going to turn the page on the failed diplomacy that the Bush administration has practiced for so long."
Others in the candidate pool wasted no time chiming in to react to Ahmadinejad's speech and invitation.
Ahmadinejad had already inflamed public opinion in the United States regarding this year's General Assembly meeting when he announced his intention to visit the site where the World Trade Center buildings collapsed Sept. 11, 2001.
His request was denied by the New York Police Department, a decision that New York's leading Democrat and Republican --
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