Clinton sharpens her attacks on Obama's experience

[FishForLunch]

Her experience as first lady was decorating the White house and fending off bimbo eruptions. Playing second fiddle with no responsibilities does not qualify as experience.

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Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:36pm EST
By Kay Henderson

DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton sharpened her attacks on Tuesday on rival Barack Obama's experience, a day after a poll showed her falling slightly behind him in Iowa.

Six weeks before Iowa kicks off the state-by-state battle for the 2008 Democratic nomination, Clinton questioned Obama's claim that living in a foreign country as a youth helped shape his world view and contribute to his experience.

"Voters will judge whether living in a foreign country at the age of 10 prepares one to face the big, complex international challenges the next president will face," Clinton said during a campaign stop in Shenandoah, Iowa.

"I think we need a president with more experience than that," said Clinton, who has repeatedly touted her own experience as first lady and questioned the readiness for the White House of the first-term senator from Illinois.

Obama said in Iowa on Monday that his four years living in Indonesia as a child contributed to his knowledge of the world and how people live around the globe.

"If you don't understand these cultures then it's very hard for you to make good foreign policy decisions. Foreign policy is all about judgment," he said.

Obama's campaign fired back, saying experience was no substitute for judgment and attacking Clinton's votes to authorize military action in Iraq in 2003 and side with President George W. Bush recently in labeling an Iranian military unit a terrorist group.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also spent time in the White House and traveled heavily.

"But along with Hillary Clinton they led us into the worst foreign policy disaster in a generation and are now giving George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran," he said.

It was the second consecutive day the two have exchanged fire on the question of experience, and follows the release of a Washington Post-ABC News poll on Monday showing Obama opening a four-point lead over Clinton in Iowa, within the statistical margin of error.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was four points behind Clinton, setting up a tight three-way race in the Jan. 3 contest in Iowa that will open the campaign to pick nominees for the Nov. 4, 2008, general election.

Clinton leads national polls in the Democratic race, but a loss in Iowa could slow her momentum and puncture the air of inevitability her campaign has tried to promote.

The Edwards camp, accused of mudslinging by Clinton during the last debate, criticized her comments about Obama. Spokesman Chris Kofinis said: "When it comes to mud, Hillary Clinton says one thing and throws another."

The New York senator debuted a new television commercial on Tuesday touting her ability to stand up to Republican attacks.

It opens with shots of anti-Clinton ads from Republican rivals John McCain and Mitt Romney, labeled "The Republican Attack Machine," and end with shots of their faces.

"The same old Republican attack machine is back. Why?" an announcer asks. "Maybe it's because they know that there's one candidate with the strength and experience to get us out of Iraq."

Obama, campaigning in New Hampshire, said knowing the ropes in Washington meant appeasing special interests that block key issues such as health care reform and new energy policies.

"I hear candidates say, 'Elect me because I know how to play the game better in Washington.' We don't need somebody who plays the game better. We need somebody to put an end to the game-playing," Obama told several hundred students and residents in Alton, New Hampshire. (Additional reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst and Jason Szep in New Hampshire; Editing by Alan Elsner)

[dude1394]

So clinton now says "never mind". Are you quite as confident in clinton as you were before there Janett...First the press release is ridiculous, then to say well we meant all but the part that makes us really look stupid...Is pretty stupid,.

The original press release is available after the jump.

12/2/2007


Twice in One Day: Senator Obama Tries Rewriting History, Again Claims He Hasn't Been Planning White House Run

At an event in Boston this evening, Senator Obama claimed for the second time today that he is "not running to fulfill some long held plans" to be elected President, contradicting statements his friends, family, staff and teachers have all made about him.

"Senator Obama's relatives and friends say he has been talking about running for President for at least the last fifteen years. So who's not telling the truth, them or him?" Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said.

In Boston this evening, Senator Obama said: "I'm not running to fulfill some long held plans or because I think it's open to me." In Iowa earlier today, he said: Senator Obama said: "I have not been planning to run for President for however number of years some of the other candidates have been planning for."

But that's not what Senator Obama's teachers, family, classmates or staff say:

Immediately after joining the Senate, Senator Obama started planning run for President. "'The first order of business for Senator Obama's team was charting a course for his first two years in the Senate. The game plan was to send Senator Obama into the 2007-2008 election cycle in the strongest form possible'...The final act of the plan was turning up the talk about a potential Presidential bid, which was greatly aided by his positive press and suggestions by pundits that he run for President." [U.S. News and World Report, 6/19/07 ]

His law school classmates say that Senator Obama has been planning Presidential run for 'more than a decade.' [A]ccording to those who know him, he has been talking about the presidency for more than a decade. "It was clear to me from the day I met him that he was thinking about politics," says Harvard Law School classmate Christine Spurell. [Washington Post, 8/12/07 ]

15 years ago, Senator Obama told his brother-in-law he was planning to run for President. Craig [Robinson] pulled him aside [in 1992] and asked about his plans. "He said, 'I think I'd like to teach at some point in time, and maybe run for public office,' recalls Robinson, who assumed Senator Obama meant he'd like to run for city alderman. "He said no -- at some point he'd like to run for the U.S. Senate. And then he said, 'Possibly even run for President at some point.' And I was like, 'Okay, but don't say that to my Aunt Gracie.' I was protecting him from saying something that might embarrass him." [Washington Post, 8/12/07 ]

In third grade, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want To Be a President.' His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a President,' she said." [The Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07]

In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President.' "Iis Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said." [AP, 1/25/07 ]

[dude1394]

Oh...something is rotten in little rock.

UPDATE: USA Today has the polling results, and they look even worse for Hillary. In 16 days, she dropped nine points overall. Obama, Edwards, Richardson, and Biden split Hillary's castoffs almost equally. She dropped eleven points in a month. Her negatives have gone from 44% in October to 50%, and now has a favorability deficit of -3, the worst since the beginning of summer.

It would be a free-fall, if the Democrats had a candidate who could take advantage of Hillary.

[FishForLunch]

She seems to think her professional experience and qualifications are primarily that to being a wife to Bill, daughter to Dorothy and mother to Chelsea. Quite a resume for a presidential candidate.

[Flacolaco]

I love how in this country you get to first attack everyone in your own party for a while, you know, for practice; And THEN you can get to the next step, pretend to all be friends again and go after the other party.