US News
Clintons ratchet up rhetoric against Obama
By Karyn Chenoweth Sep 29, 2007, 22:15 GMT
Former President Bill Clinton (R) listens as his wife, US Senator from New York and Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (L) speaks at a Labor Day Rally, in Sioux City, Iowa, USA, 03 September 2007. EPA/STEFE POPE
Former President Bill Clinton has come out in support of his wife's presidential candidacy, and slammed Senator Barack Obama for politcal inexperience.
Clinton said he had much more experienced when he made his successful 1992 White House run than Senator Barack Obama has today.
New York Senator Hillary Clinton, 59, is the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination and her closest rival is Obama, a first-term U.S. senator from Illinois who previously served in the state legislature and worked as a community organizer in Chicago.
"There is a difference,'' Clinton said in an interview with Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt'' that will air this weekend.
"I was the senior governor in America. I had been head of any number of national organizations that were related to the major issue of the day, which is how to restore America's economic strength.''
Clinton was age 46 in 1992 when he claimed the presidency over Republican President George H.W. Bush.
Interestingly, the two now work together for humanitarian fundraising and are seemingly close allies.
Obama is also 46, and the comparisons rankle Clinton.
Clinton was initially dismissed as "an obscure if colorful outsider, handsome and articulate but, at age 46, too young and inexperienced for the job,'' his wife Hillary wrote in her autobiography, "Living History.''
Bill Clinton's comments were Hillary's camp's most direct to date on Obama's level of experience.
Obama, for his part, has presented himself as an agent of change in the race.
Bloomberg reports that one of Obama's best-known supporters, former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, in August dismissed the experience comparison, saying, "Being a former first lady doesn't prepare you to be president.''
Bill Clinton, 61, said Obama's experience today is closer to his own in 1988, when he decided not to pursue a White House run. "I came within a day of announcing, because most of the governors were for me and I had been a governor for six years,'' Clinton said in the Bloomberg TV interview taped in New York. "And I really didn't think I knew enough and had served enough and done enough to run.''
"What America needs in a president changes from time to time,'' Clinton said in the Bloomberg Television interview. "Her experience is more relevant and more compelling.''
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Older Talkback
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Do I sense more than a little jealousy and fear from big Bill.
the day after obama throws a party for 24,000 in Hillary's backyard, bill comes out with this?
Bill knows Obama is a better candidate then his wife and Obama is a better person than Both. While Bill possessed charm and speaking ability he knows that obama is better and has a powerful intellect besides. Not only that but, Obama is a better person who can be a great president rather than settle for average like Bill who took the easy way out too many times by throwing his party and the people under the bus for the republicans.
Bill knows he has a weak character where obama has the dicipline and the focus to excell and is stronger and more honest.
obama will take a stand on principle.
I also think Bill sees Obama's rise as a signal that he is being eclipsed.
He knows Hillary's lead is tenuous at best. that there is a long time between now and Jan and that Obama has not yet begun to push back against Hillary. and when he does, who knows how many skeletons will come out.
Obama afterall is from the politics of Chicago. It is not just bloodsport. it is all about timing and savvy and skill. So far, obama has shown all of those and has bested Hillary more than once in what was suppose to be impossible like fundraising. both Hill and Bill could not overcome just obama.
I think we are seeing the struggle of the most powerful couple in politics who thought they could rule unchallenged for years being upset by a young and not well known but, highly gifted man.
Hillary and Bill have been securing the statewide dem machines, pushing early. The only thing that keeps Obama in the running is early victory in some critical primaries, and that is exactly, where Monkey boy and his wife have been putting their machine to work in.
That, plus the utter predilection of the dem party to simply slide her into a nomination.
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SP4: It's over for Barak???Sep 30th, 2007 - 04:27:14
I think he's done.
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