Obama Debate Comments Set Off Firestorm

Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., left, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., are pictured during a break at the Democratic presidential debate sponsored by CNN, YouTube and Google at The Citadel military college in Charleston, S.C., Monday, July 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak - AP)

"It's a step-by-step process. It's not just some event," Albright said of such head-of-state meetings.

"I would think that without having done the diplomatic spadework, it would not really prove anything," Albright said.

The Obama campaign, meanwhile, circulated a memo by Obama spokesman Bill Burton saying Obama's response to the question had played well with focus groups and that Clinton had changed her position on the subject _ a claim her campaign denied.

Anthony Lake, an Obama foreign policy adviser who was national security adviser early in President Clinton's administration, defended Obama's statements.

"A great nation and its president should never fear negotiating with anyone and Senator Obama rightly said he would be willing to do so _ just as Richard Nixon did with China and Ronald Reagan with the Soviet Union," Lake said.

He said Obama was not trying to dictate the "shape of specific negotiations" and those would "depend on how best to conduct them" at the time.

Lake said he recognized Obama's comments had stirred up a political hornet's nest, particularly in Florida. But, he said, it would subside. "In two years, who knows who's going to be ruling Cuba," Lake said.

In February, Clinton had said: "You don't refuse to talk to bad people. I think life is filled with uncomfortable situations where you have to deal with people you might not like. I'm sort of an expert on that. I have consistently urged the president to talk to Iran and talk to Syria. I think it's a sign of strength, not weakness."

Obama's camp also attempted to shift attention to Clinton's vote authorizing the Iraq war in October 2002 at a time when Obama, then a state lawmaker, had voiced opposition.

Joe Garcia, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Democrats and former director of the Cuban National Foundation, said he'll give Obama the benefit of the doubt.

"Obviously, Hillary's answer was a seasoned answer within the realm of what we're doing. But I don't think Obama was intending to say we want to give legitimacy to dictatorships," said Garcia, who said he was not affiliated with any of the candidates. Obama speaks to the Miami-Dade Democrats at an Aug. 25 dinner.

Other 2008 candidates have stumbled on Cuban-American politics.