Obama Fires Back at Bill Clinton
EmailABC News’ Sunlen Miller reports: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has fired back in the resume comparison summoned up by former Pres. Bill Clinton and used it to question the experience of his main competitor, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
At a campaign stop in Concord, N.H., the senator said that his experience level is more valuable than Sen. Clinton’s. Obama used the words her husband, Bill Clinton, used while he was running for office in 1992. "He said, ‘The same old experience is not relevant. You can have the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience.’ Well that candidate was Bill Clinton and I think he was absolutely right… I may not have the experience Washington likes, but I have the experience America needs," Obama said.
Obama’s singling out of Bill Clinton comes the day after the former president appeared on Bloomberg TV and questioned Obama’s experience level. Comparing his own run in 1992 to Obama’s, Clinton said, "There is a difference…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."
On the campaign trail, Obama noted that he has been a community organizer, lawyer, professor, and state senator.
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Newsweek is out with a poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers (September 26-27). On the Democratic side, Obama is leading Clinton by four:
Democrats
Obama 28
Clinton 24
Edwards 22
Richardson 10
Biden 5
Undecided 9
When first and second choices are combined, Obama doubles his lead:
Obama 52
Clinton 44
Edwards 41
Richardson 19
Biden 11
Posted by: Gray | September 29, 2007, 11:20 am 11:20 am
I have to agree with President Clinton on this one point. All the Democratic candidates (top ones) are exceptional. A vote for any of them by most people is not because they dislike someone else. That is unusual this election. But all in all, though I think that Obama is probably the best of the group. But I do like Edwards the most and hope he becomes the democratic candidate.
Posted by: roy | September 29, 2007, 2:19 pm 2:19 pm
What’s been frustrating about this whole ‘experience’ issue is how numbers are not presented, just opinions which don’t have factual basis. The American people should be able to decide for themselves “how much experience” each candidate has, rather than allowing candidates to level accusations at one another. This is one issue where we can actually fact check, unlike many politically charged accusations that are hard to prove/disprove.
1) Obama served 8 years in State government (Illinois state Senator), and been in the U.S. Senate for 3 years.
2) Bill Clinton served in State Government for 10 years (Arkansas Governor), and served ZERO years in national government.
3) John Edwards served 6 years in the U.S Senate, and had no prior experience in elected office.
4) Hillary Clinton has served 7 years in the U.S Senate, and has no prior experience in elected office.
Numerically, Bill Clinton had less experience in government than Obama does. In addition, Bill Clinton had ZERO foreign policy experience, whereas, while not much, Obama has 3 years in the U.S. Senate. The same goes for John Edwards, who has less than any candidate running for president.
The key point is that Obama’s 8 years in the Illinois Senate have been completely overlooked. We must remember, Bill Clinton was also in state government, and for a very small state (Arkansas).
Posted by: Meerim | December 17, 2007, 11:41 am 11:41 am