http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2007/aug/91046.htm

MR. MCCORMACK: Like I said -- like I said before on this question, there's a thing called free speech in presidential campaigns in the United States. There's also a thing called the Executive Branch and we have responsibility for the foreign policy of the United States, and I don't think anybody's going to confuse those two things.

So is he trying to say that the candidates can promise anything without having any repercussions?