He said he was addressing a specific issue that, he believed, had not been given sufficient scrutiny: Obama's position on Iraq and a statement by Obama in 2004 that he could not say how he would have voted on the war had he been in the Senate, though he did not believe the case for war had been made.
Clinton said the 2004 view was at odds with Obama's position that he has, unlike Hillary Clinton, always been against the war.
"I said that story is a fairy tale," Clinton said. "Now that doesn't have anything to do with my respect for him as a person or his campaign. I have gone out of my way not to express any personal disrespect for him and his campaign."
Donna Brazile, a leading black Democrat who had criticized Clinton, on Friday appeared willing to accept his explanation.
"Bill Clinton is a soldier in the fields for people of color," Brazile said on CNN. "At this point, we are willing to let this lie."
RSS