Obama Responds to Clinton Comments on Iraq

There's one more thing I'd like to mention before I take questions. I noticed that Senator Clinton was attacking me on the issue of Iraq today. And I know she likes to say that her judgment to vote for war and my judgment to oppose it were just speeches.

Now it's true, we gave very different speeches back in 2002. She stood on the floor of the Senate and said her vote for war was the hardest decision that she ever had to make, but she said she cast it “with conviction.” And while Senator Clinton now calls her vote for the “Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq” a vote for diplomacy, there is no doubt that it was a vote for war.

The truth is, the judgment of Hillary Clinton and John McCain gave President Bush a blank check for war. So I'm not about to allow Senator Clinton to get away with saying this is just about speeches. Because of that vote, we have fought a war that has cost us thousands of lives and will cost us a trillion dollars. Because of that vote, our troops have fought tour after tour after tour of duty, and their families have sacrificed so much at home. Because of that vote, we are less safe and less respected at home. It's not just a speech – it's a war that should've never been authorized, and should've never been wage.

The judgment to go to war can never be undone. It's not enough to stand up five years later in the heat of a campaign and say that you're ready on Day One – you have to be right on Day One. And on the war in Iraq, Senator Clinton's judgment was wrong. If we had followed my judgment, we wouldn't be standing here five years later debating how to end the war in Iraq, because we never would have fought it. That's the judgment we need in our next Commander in Chief.