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http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Obama_Calls_Clinton_Divis/2008/01/30/68727.html
Obama Calls Clinton Divisive Figure
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday said rival
Hillary Rodham Clinton is too polarizing to win the presidency and she has
taken positions shared by President Bush and Republican candidate John
McCain for political expediency.
Obama depicted Clinton as a calculating, poll-tested divisive figure who
will only inspire greater partisan divisions as she sides with Republicans
on issues like trade, the role of lobbyists in politics and national
security. At the same time, he elevated McCain, fresh off victory in
Florida's crucial primary, as the likely Republican nominee.
"Democrats will win in November and build a majority in Congress not by
nominating a candidate who will unite the other party against us, but by
choosing one who can unite this country around a movement for change," Obama
said, speaking as rival John Edwards was pulling out of the race in New
Orleans, leaving a Clinton-Obama fight for the Democratic nomination.
"It is time for new leadership that understands the way to win a debate with
John McCain or any Republican who is nominated is not by nominating someone
who agreed with him on voting for the war in Iraq or who agreed with him in
voting to give George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran, who agrees with
him in embracing the Bush-Cheney policy of not talking to leaders we don't
like, who actually differed with him by arguing for exceptions for torture
before changing positions when the politics of the moment changed," Obama
said.
"We need to offer the American people a clear contrast on national security,
and when I am the nominee of the Democratic Party, that is exactly what I
will do," he said.
The Clinton campaign said Obama was abandoning his pledge to run a positive
campaign by making misleading attacks on her record.
"Senator Obama laments this kind of politics in his book, 'Audacity of
Hope,'" her campaign responded in a Web posting that containing a quote from
page 133 of the book: "That is how most of my colleagues, Republican and
Democrat, enter the Senate their words distorted, and their motives
questioned."
Obama drew more than 10,000 people to his speech at the University of
Denver. They packed a hockey arena and crammed into two overflow rooms and
still were lined up outside to get in. Colorado is a caucus state, one of 22
to hold nominating contests Tuesday, and is one of a handful of states where
the Obama campaign is predicting victory. Clinton has the advantage in
several others, while several are still up for grabs.
Obama said he understands voters might feel some comfort at the idea of
returning to another President Clinton after eight years of Bush. But he
cautioned voters not to buy the argument that Clinton's experience is what
the country needs.
"It is about the past versus the future," he said. "And when I am the
nominee, the Republicans won't be able to make this election about the past.
"If you choose change, you will have a nominee who doesn't just tell people
what they want to hear," Obama told them. "Poll-tested positions, calculated
answers might be how Washington confronts challenges, but it's not how you
overcome those challenges; it's not how you inspire our nation to come
together behind a common purpose, and it's not what America needs right now.
You need a candidate who will tell you the truth."
Obama Calls Clinton Divisive Figure
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday said rival
Hillary Rodham Clinton is too polarizing to win the presidency and she has
taken positions shared by President Bush and Republican candidate John
McCain for political expediency.
Obama depicted Clinton as a calculating, poll-tested divisive figure who
will only inspire greater partisan divisions as she sides with Republicans
on issues like trade, the role of lobbyists in politics and national
security. At the same time, he elevated McCain, fresh off victory in
Florida's crucial primary, as the likely Republican nominee.
"Democrats will win in November and build a majority in Congress not by
nominating a candidate who will unite the other party against us, but by
choosing one who can unite this country around a movement for change," Obama
said, speaking as rival John Edwards was pulling out of the race in New
Orleans, leaving a Clinton-Obama fight for the Democratic nomination.
"It is time for new leadership that understands the way to win a debate with
John McCain or any Republican who is nominated is not by nominating someone
who agreed with him on voting for the war in Iraq or who agreed with him in
voting to give George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran, who agrees with
him in embracing the Bush-Cheney policy of not talking to leaders we don't
like, who actually differed with him by arguing for exceptions for torture
before changing positions when the politics of the moment changed," Obama
said.
"We need to offer the American people a clear contrast on national security,
and when I am the nominee of the Democratic Party, that is exactly what I
will do," he said.
The Clinton campaign said Obama was abandoning his pledge to run a positive
campaign by making misleading attacks on her record.
"Senator Obama laments this kind of politics in his book, 'Audacity of
Hope,'" her campaign responded in a Web posting that containing a quote from
page 133 of the book: "That is how most of my colleagues, Republican and
Democrat, enter the Senate their words distorted, and their motives
questioned."
Obama drew more than 10,000 people to his speech at the University of
Denver. They packed a hockey arena and crammed into two overflow rooms and
still were lined up outside to get in. Colorado is a caucus state, one of 22
to hold nominating contests Tuesday, and is one of a handful of states where
the Obama campaign is predicting victory. Clinton has the advantage in
several others, while several are still up for grabs.
Obama said he understands voters might feel some comfort at the idea of
returning to another President Clinton after eight years of Bush. But he
cautioned voters not to buy the argument that Clinton's experience is what
the country needs.
"It is about the past versus the future," he said. "And when I am the
nominee, the Republicans won't be able to make this election about the past.
"If you choose change, you will have a nominee who doesn't just tell people
what they want to hear," Obama told them. "Poll-tested positions, calculated
answers might be how Washington confronts challenges, but it's not how you
overcome those challenges; it's not how you inspire our nation to come
together behind a common purpose, and it's not what America needs right now.
You need a candidate who will tell you the truth."
