James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, praised the
foreign policy skills of candidates Barack Obama and Bill Richardson
while talking with Iowa Independent and several audience members
following an Iowa City talk today. "Obama has an incredible
understanding of the issues," Zogby said. "This is just an incredibly
smart guy." Zogby was less positive when asked about Hillary Clinton's
statement that the U.S. is more secure now than before the Iraq War.
"It's not a sellout so much as what they think passes as smart
politics," he said. "It's a bad calculation based more on the politics
of convenience, and I don't trust that instinct." Zogby didn't offer
these observations in his address to acrowd of 125, many of whom
munched on free pizza, and the Arab American Institute does not make
endorsements.