Rightwing media bias: The lead story in today’s Washington Times implies that Barack Obama interfered with negotiations between the Bush administration and the Iraqi government over extending the right of the United States to occupy Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires on Dec. 31:
“Do you think it is appropriate for a presidential candidate to inject himself in a sitting president’s negotiations with another country during wartime?”
- WashTimes poll question adjacent to article

At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn’t be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval…

[The conversation] stirred controversy over the appropriateness of a White House candidate’s contacts with foreign governments while the sitting president is conducting a war.

Both the Obama campaign and Iraq’s ambassador to the United States, Samir Sumaidaie, confirmed that the conversation took place, and even the Times reporter, Barbara Slavin, who once worked for USA Today, admits that both sides “said the conversation was at Mr. Zebari’s request.” Even so, Slavin writes:

“In the conversation, the senator urged Iraq to delay the [memorandum of understanding] between Iraq and the United States until the new administration was in place,” [said Sumaidaie].

He said Mr. Zebari replied that any such agreement would not bind a new administration. “The new administration will have a free hand to opt out,” he said the foreign minister told Mr. Obama.

Mr. Sumaidaie did not participate in the call, he said, but stood next to Mr. Zebari during the conversation and was briefed by him immediately afterward.

The call was not recorded by either side, and Mr. Zebari did not respond to repeated telephone and e-mail messages requesting direct comment.

The Obama campaign denies Obama recommended stalling the negotiations:

The Obama campaign told the paper that the Illinois Democrat was speaking to Iraqi officials in his capacity as a U.S. senator and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The campaign pointed out that Obama spoke to Iraqi officials just days after a U.S. Senate delegation, including two Republicans, wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urging consultation over any agreements committing U.S. troops and civilian contractors to Iraq “for an extended period of time,” the paper reported.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Wendy Morigi added: “It’s obvious that others are trying to mischaracterize Obama’s position, [but] on numerous occasions he has made it perfectly clear that the United States only has one president at a time and that the administration speaks with one voice.”

While Slavin pulls her punches in characterizing the conversation between Obama and Zebari, a poll adjacent to the story on the Times’ webpage asks this question:

Do you think it is appropriate for a presidential candidate to inject himself in a sitting president’s negotiations with another country during wartime?

Since even Slavin admits Zebari reached out to Obama, Obama certainly did not “inject” himself into the negotiations. The Washington Times is owned by the Unification Church, a rightwing religious cult based in Korea, and this bias could explain its apparent effort to spark outrage over Obama’s perceived meddling in the Bush administration’s negotiations.

At the same time, the New York Post, which is part of the Fox News empire, has also reported that Obama suggested that Iraqi officials delay the negotiations until the next administration takes office.