Clinton, Obama quarrel anew over foreign meetings

By Lisa Richwine and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton's campaign on Saturday accused Barack Obama of waffling on his stance that he would meet with leaders of countries hostile to the United States, as the top two Democratic U.S. presidential contenders kept up their nearly week-long verbal joust.

In a call to reporters on behalf of Clinton's campaign, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack accused Obama of saying both that he would meet the leaders of Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela without preconditions and that certain conditions would have to be in place for such meetings.

The sharpest dispute in the Democratic presidential race for the 2008 election began at a CNN/YouTube debate last Monday when Obama, a first-term U.S. senator from Illinois, said he would be willing to meet leaders of the five countries without preconditions in his first year as president.

The Clinton campaign said Obama appeared to change his position when in an interview published on Thursday he said he would be willing to meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez but only "under certain conditions."

"Under certain conditions, I always believe in talking," Obama told the Miami Herald. "Sometimes it's more important to talk to your enemies than to your friends."

Clinton, a two-term U.S. senator from New York and former first lady, has contended that any meetings with the leaders should be preceded by lower-level diplomacy to make sure there is a reason for the leaders to meet.

"I would hope that the senator would clarify his comments as to whether or not he is for preconditions," Vilsack said of Obama.

The Obama campaign rejected the criticism, saying Obama has been consistent throughout.

"He never said he would invite dictators over for a cup of coffee and he said he wouldn't let these dictators use him as a propaganda tool. What he did say was that he would be willing to meet with them," said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

The Clinton campaign is trying to cast Obama as naive and too inexperienced to be president.

Obama has accused Clinton of backing a foreign policy equal to that of President George W. Bush, who has refused to meet leaders of the five nations but permitted limited diplomacy with some of them.

Psaki also directed Reuters to an interview Clinton gave to MSNBC in January saying she would reach out immediately to the Syrians and Iranians in order to further Washington's interests in the Mideast.

"I don't see it as a sign of weakness," Clinton said in the January 27 interview. "I see it as a sign of strength. You know our president will not talk to people he considers bad. Well there are a lot of bad actors in the world and you don't make peace with your friends. You've got to deal with your enemies, your opponents, people whose interests diverge from yours."

"This conflicts with a claim all week from the Clinton camp that this approach is irresponsible and naive," Psaki wrote in an email.