Posted on 01/30/2008 12:21:06 PM PST by NormsRevenge
DENVER - 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."
oops sorry wrong post.
This after having spent the last few days sucking up to that paragon of inclusion, Teddy Kennedy?
I tried that it just saves it as a still picture, I’d like to have it animated if possible.
I was and am again.
people are so snowed by this guy’s speaking voice, platitudes and soundbites. Just like they were by Bill Clinton. Say lots, do nothing.
yep he does have a nice sounding voice. All should investigate his record. He’s very liberal.
Sad but true.
And in other news, the Pot called the Kettle . . . oops, that might be racial.
....Canadian?
Yeah, sure. Why not?
Goodbye, my little Pretties!"
What could be a more delicious outcome? I may not vote for him at the end of the day, but support him wholeheartedly in his quest for the Dem nomination...thinking of him as whole wheat Christian, from the Land of Lincoln...change agent extraordinaire!
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Well, if that isn't devisive I don't know what is. Obama seems to forget that the role of POTUS is to get both parties to work together - not just support and unite his party. If you read his statement carefully, you can see he is prepared to fight the Republicans at every turn. Seems he also forgets that in his rush to offer "change" he is not willing to pay attention to history and what you can learn from the past. It is scary.
His "change" mantra sounds refreshing to the uneducated, young, and scared...but without understanding and incorporating the past and learning from/working with both parties in government who have been through good and bad times this country is doomed.
Obama would be like a teenager with a penchant to try something different and that sounds exciting, only to find out that new is not always better, and drastic changes carry consequences. The presidency is not an experiment in change, nor for someone with a teenage level of maturity who seems to ignore the fact that the role of POTUS includes satisfying left and right-wingers as best as possible for the common good. You don't throw out the baby with the bathwater, and it seems Obama is bent on doing just that.
I think, even the Dems, are frightened about his blind enthusiam, his un-tested leadership skills, his belief that all things must change, etc. and for that reason many are clinging to Hillary, even with all her baggage. Hillary is certainly from the "old school," but she learned to play the game, and that is why Dems still support her. There is an aura of safeness they feel because she has made some concessions and (even if they were minimal) she has worked with both parties toward a unified goal. Of course, we all know that neither is a worthwhile candidate, and it is a sorry state of affairs that the Democrat party hasn't produced anyone, or doesn't have anyone more viable to lead this nation. If either of them would win the election get prepared for a rough time including: failing economy, higher taxes, more entitlement programs and special-interest group concessions, terrorist attacks on the homeland, and lots more of in-house fighting and confusion over social issues.
Obamma thinks Klinton is divisive?
I think he is a murderer and a rapist, not to mention thief, liar and general buffoon.
1968 sucked. This is 1968, all over again.There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there...
Tellin' me that I better beware...
LOL
McCain being a front runner makes it easy for Dems to vote their hearts. They know they will win no matter who they nominate. Kucinich might beat McCain. Edwards, for sure. Biden would make it interesting, we might see a double melt-down.
Of course he would for purposes of making for an easy road to the White House for a true socialist.
In a way, I join you in admiration of him. He has been very successful. I believe that he is actually telling you what he believes, albeit he is so far left as to be totally unacceptable as the president. And, I don’t believe he would have me whacked for doing a documentary film about him.
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