Obama Admits, Denies Waffling on Iraq Pullout Date

Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama today both admitted and denied to a hastily assembled Butte, Montana news conference that he had waffled on his position regarding pulling all troops out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

"It all depends on what you mean by 'troops,'" Obama told reporters. "If by 'troops' you mean 'all forces,' I didn't say that. If you mean 'some of the soldiers but not all of them,' I think that's what my nuanced position entails."

Obama heatedly denied that his recent conversation with former President Clinton had given him a new outlook on what words mean.

"That depends on what you mean by 'conversation,'" Obama said. "If you mean that President Clinton and I talked, yes, that's true. But if you mean that he and I exchanged ideas in the course of speaking English sentences to each other, I think that's more than my nuanced position entails."

President Clinton and Senator Obama had experienced a contentious relationship throughout the primary campaign, but it appears now that the two men have found "common ground," a reporter noted.

"That depends on what you mean by 'common ground,'" Obama cautioned. "If you mean that the former President and I found ways to agree on things about which we had disagreed in the past, that would be my nuanced position. But if you mean that he and I agree on everything and don't disagree on anything, well, that would be something about which I would not be in agreement."

When a reporter asked if President Cliinton's famous ability to torture the English language, so that he could appear to be saying one thing but was actually saying the opposite, had rubbed off on Sen. Obama after just a single phone call, the Senator replied, "That all depends on what you mean by 'ability to torture the English language.'"

Senator Obama told reporters that he and President Clinton would be playing golf together during the July 4 holiday weekend and then interviewing potentilal Presidential interns, and that President Clinton would be keeping score, but that all depended on "what you meant by keeping score," the Senator said, "and on what you meant by 'interviewing interns.' I hope I've made myself perfectly clear."