Obama Throws Clark Under the Bus

Boy, that didn't take long.

It was a soft landing.

Barack Obama just delivered a speech on patriotism in Independence, Mo., hometown of what was once America's most powerful haberdasher, and offered a mild rebuke to Wesley Clark, who took on John McCain's military record the other day in rather scorching terms.

And just to make it clear, an Obama spokesman sent out this brief statement as Obama was speaking: "As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and, of course, he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark."

Why wasn't Obama man enough to condemn this statement yesterday?

And why wasn't he man enough to condemn Clark during his speech, when his supporters would hear it loud and unequivocally?

Update: So much for Clark's VP aspirations. Indeed. Alas, Time wants this issue to go away. Now. Sure, we can let it go. Now just stop bringing up Willie Horton and Swiftboating, then we'll talk, OK?

If you can stomach it, check some of the comments there. The sheer ugliness of the left is breathtaking.