Politics & Policy

Obama Jabs Clinton on Syria Strategy: ‘Difference Between Running for President and Being President’

President Obama takes questions from reporters, October 2, 2015. (CNN via YouTube)

President Obama took a shot at Hillary Clinton on Friday for supporting a “half-baked” no-fly zone in response to Russia’s airstrikes in Syria, suggesting that her plan was driven more by political concerns than practical reality.

During a radio interview on Thursday, Clinton said that if she were president, she’d be advocating a no-fly zone in areas of Syria where Russian aircraft are currently bombing targets. The move would deny Russian planes the ability to operate in those areas — a risky strategy that could precipitate a direct military confrontation between the U.S. and Russian air forces.

When asked Friday why his administration wouldn’t pursue such a no-fly zone, President Obama initially refused to name names. “I hear people offering up half-baked ideas as if they are solutions, or trying to downplay the challenges involved in the situation,” he said during a press conference this afternoon. “You know, what I’d like to see [those people asked] is . . . what, exactly, would you do? And how would you fund it? And how would you sustain it?’”

#share#But when asked specifically about Clinton’s plan, Obama didn’t pull his punches. “Hillary Clinton is not half-baked, in terms of her approach to these problems — she was obviously my secretary of state,” he said. “But I also think there’s a difference between running for president and being president. And the decisions that are being made and the discussions that I’m having with the joint chiefs become much more specific and require, I think, a different kind of judgment.”

— Brendan Bordelon is a political reporter for National Review.

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