GOP Group Criticizes Obama for Trip With GOP Senator

By Paddy


This is a head scratcher. Are they just looking to cause problems for Obama any way they can?

The Republican Jewish Coalition is criticizing Senator Obama for traveling to the Middle East with a member of the Republican Party: Senator Hagel of Nebraska. The anti-war Republican is joining Mr. Obama and Senator Reed, a Democrat of Rhode Island, on a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan later this summer. Mr. Obama is also traveling to Israel, and the Republican Jewish group yesterday called on him to jettison Mr. Hagel from that leg of the trip, citing a record that they characterized as unsupportive of the Jewish state.

There has been no indication that Mr. Hagel would be accompanying Mr. Obama to Israel, and the Obama campaign wouldn't comment yesterday. The National Jewish Democratic Council suggested the coalition's statement was bizarre. "The RJC should get its facts right. Obama is going to Iraq with Hagel, not Israel," the Democratic group's executive director, Ira Forman, said. He also voiced skepticism at the RJC's newfound criticism of Mr. Hagel. "For the past 12 years, he's been a Republican senator and they've never had a problem with his record up to now," he said.