After his advisor muddied the waters a bit with the age issue, John McCain steers the conversation back today to Barack Obama’s endorsement by Hamas.

McCain also told reporters that the recent complimentary remarks for Obama by a Hamas spokesman are also fair game for debate. Prefacing his comment by saying that he believes that it’s clear that Obama “shares nothing of the values or goals of Hamas,” the presumptive GOP nominee added that the Palestinian organization’s favorable assessment of Obama’s candidacy is “a legitimate point of discussion.”

(And was he offended by the “bearings” remark? Not really.)

McCain is correct in this respect: it is important to understand that Obama’s positions (e.g. his willingness to meet with Hamas’ sponsor Iran) and his rhetoric (“nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people”) have consequences and are interpreted by our adversaries as providing them with a political and diplomatic advantage. As McCain explained on Bill O’Reilly’s show last night, naive overtures of this type only enhance their stature on the world stage. That is a significant issue which goes to the candidates’ competence and outlook in managing foreign policy.