by John McCormick
MAQUOKETA, Iowa – As Sen. Barack Obama sought to differentiate himself from the rest of the Democratic field today on the issue of the Iraq war, a seven-year-old in the audience evened the playing field.
During an question-and-answer session in a city park here, young Clayton Melvin agreed with Obama that the war should end now.
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“I think we should end this war,” said Clayton, a second-grader from nearby DeWitt, Iowa.
So far, so good.
“I agree,” Obama said. “That’s a good comment.”
Then Clayton continued. “I’m not just going to wait for president,” he said.
“You don’t want to just wait for President Bush,” Obama echoed. “We need to end it now…I agree.”
Then Clayton moved into a topic that left Obama sputtering a bit.
“And I agree Hillary wants to,” Clayton said, referring to Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.
“Ah, well, yeah,” Obama responded, the audience laughing. “Well there you go.”
As the laughter died down, Obama got back on message. “I think that we want to get everybody on board to bring this war to a close,” he said.
Obama made clear that he held no ill will toward the boy, even after his less-than-polite comment.
“You ever seen Mayberry?” Obama asked. “You look just like Opie…He’s a cute kid. That’s a good thing.”