The Meat and Potatoes by Shir Haberman

While Illinois Democratic Senator and presidential hopefull Barack Obama was touting the fact that he says what's on his mind regardless of the consequences to a standing-room only crowd of about 3,500 at UNH's Field House on Monday evening, his campaign was issuing a formal apology for Obama saying that the lives of the 3,000-plus soldiers killed in Iraq had been "wasted." Obama called that statement "a slip of the tongue."

It seems to me there is very little difference between saying members of the US military have died fighting a war that should never have been fought, which has resulted in nothing but misery for the Iraqi people and has alienated large segments of the world's population, and saying those soldiers' lives had been wasted. But Obama chose to retract his statement rather than stand by it.

It was obviously the reaction Obama got to the word "wasted" that elicited the apology, but it is disheartening that the man who prides himself on saying what he means decided he didn't really mean what he said in this instance.

In this case, political correctness trumped honesty and that may shows not only Barack's lack of political experience, but his willingness to compromise his integrity in order to get elected.

Only time - and more public exposure for the Illinois Senator - will tell.