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Clinton says economy needs experience By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago The economy needs help and fast, Hillary Rodham Clinton declared Monday, claiming the experience for the job and saying the nation can't afford to break in a newcomer. In speech excerpts provided by the Clinton campaign, the New York senator suggested Democratic rival Barack Obama and other candidates lack the experience necessary to address the nation's fiscal challenges. "There is one job we can't afford on-the-job training for — our next president. That could be the costliest job training in history," Clinton said. "Every day spent...

NEW YORK -- The yellow-billed oxpecker stands atop the mighty rhinoceros, gobbling ticks and chirping loudly when danger looms. This tiny bird would make a perfect mascot for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid. Akin to that creature, the New York Democrat leaves tiny footprints and has spent more than three decades riding aboard her outsized, accomplished husband, William Jefferson Clinton. And, like the oxpecker, Hillary Clinton is remarkably unprepared for the presidency. Beyond helping to secure post-9/11 recovery funds for Gotham, her legislative achievements are rather slight. Lighter yet is her executive experience, which is measurable in grams. While...

US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama can now count himself as one of the millions of Americans with Irish heritage. Research by the genealogy website ancestry.co.uk reveals that Mr Obama's great great great grandfather was born in Ireland, although it is not yet known where. Falmouth Kearney sailed from Ireland to New York in 1850 at the age of 19 on the S.S. Marmion arriving on the 20th of March. AdvertisementHe initially settled in Ohio, got married, had eight children, and later moved to Indiana, right next door to the state Obama currently represents in the US Senate. Mr Keaney was...

CHICAGO - Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday blamed Bush Administration failings in Iraq for strengthening the strategic position of Iran, which he says must be stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons. Illinois senator said that means "direct engagement" with Iran similar to the meetings with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. "A consequence of the Administration's failed strategy in Iraq has been to strengthen Iran's strategic position; reduce U.S. credibility and influence in the region; and place Israel and other nations friendly to the United States in greater peril," according to a text of a...

There is no question that Fox News is a mouthpiece for the Republican Party, and that is what makes the cable and broadcast television operations of Australian-born billionaire Rupert Murdoch so noxious. If Fox was an ideologically conservative network, that would be fine. In fact, we think the United States could use more ideological diversity in its broadcast networks. Most of them have replaced civic and democratic values with commercial and entertainment impulses that dumb down the discourse and discourage active citizenship. A network that offered a consistently conservative take on the news would be a lot better than the...

Obama: 'Lack of Experience My Greatest Asset,' and Other Whoppers WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just 45 years old and two years into his first term in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama brings to the 2008 Presidential campaign the prospect of a new generation and style of leadership, with less experience in Washington and far fewer ties to the political polarization of the past two decades there. “My lack of experience is my greatest asset,” said Obama. “So is my ability to tell that whopper with a straight face!” Not to be outdone, and already feeling off balance by the freshness of...

Barack Obama’s free ride is ending. The charismatic Illinois senator has enjoyed a lifetime of hagiography, starting with an 800-word story in The New York Times the day after his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Now, Obama’s about to endure a going-over that would make a proctologist blush. Why has he sometimes said his first name is Arabic, and other times Swahili? Why did he make up names in his first book, as the introduction acknowledges? Why did he say two years ago that he would “absolutely” serve out his Senate term, which ends...

Stephen Yellin posts a minutiae-filled analysis of Senate, House and gubernatorial races across the country almost weekly on Daily Kos, the most-trafficked liberal political blog on the Net. Other posters laud his thoroughness and debate his conclusions. He has landed a spot as a political operative with a major Democratic presidential nominee. He's walked precincts, volunteered for campaigns and run for office. He is also 15 years old -- too young to drive to his local polling station, let alone cast a vote there. Yellin is just a sophomore in high school, but in the blogosphere he is already a...

Chelsea Clinton, 23, and Ian Klaus, 22, are back on, we hear. The former First Daughter was said to have wanted to cool things down with her Oxford University boyfriend. "She wanted some space," says a source. "But after a while, she realized how much he meant to her." The couple finished their final exams last week and have been celebrating ever since. We'll have to see whether Klaus, a Californian, follows her to New York, where she's due to take a $120,000-a-year consulting job at McKinsey & Co.

NEW YORK (AP) — Chelsea Clinton will start a six-figure consulting job after she receives a master's degree from Oxford University later this year, Newsweek magazine reports on its Web site. The daughter of former President Clinton will work in the New York office of London-based McKinsey & Company, newsweek.com reported Friday. Clinton, 23, accepted the position Friday after she reportedly turned down McKinsey's offer of $100,000 a year to work at its London headquarters, according to the Web site. A spokesman for McKinsey did not immediately return a call for comment Saturday, nor did Bill Clinton's office. Clinton, who...

Intelligencer Chelsea Clinton: Working Girl Junior Vasquez, Chelsea Clinton, Harrison Ford, Gwen Stefani... By Marc S. Malkin (Photo credit: Photo courtesy of AP/Wide World Photo) For most college grads, this is the toughest job market in years, but Chelsea Clinton, who doesn’t finish up at Oxford until the spring, has already lined up a gig. Sources tell us that the former First Daughter has been offered a position with McKinsey, the powerhouse consulting firm. “I know she had an interview and got a good offer,” one Chelsea pal tells us. (Neither McKinsey nor Clinton returned calls by press time.) Sources...

CHELSEA Clinton may end up being one of the best-paid college graduates ever. The McKinsey and Boston consulting firms are both vying for the Oxford scholar, and one source said, "McKinsey has upped the ante and offered her close to $100,000 a year." It beats the $60,000 PAGE SIX reported she was offered last month. Clinton's area of specialty? Health care, of course. "Chelsea wants to take over where her mother left off," our spy snickered, referring to Hillary Clinton's embarrassingly failed attempt in 1993 to establish a federal health care service.