Wow. I just finished watching the video on MSNBC.com of Hillary Clinton on Meet the Press.
She was VERY impressive. I have never seen someone take on Russert's cornering tactics with such vigor. She was very nimble, and made some convincing arguments regarding her votes in the Senate about the war, and brought up some excellent criticisms of Obama, particularly about his lack of experience and a not so stellar record in the Senate. She pretty much said he is making a presidential run on the heels of two speeches. One, in 2002, that Obama made (as a state senator) against the war in Iraq. The second was the speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Her most excellent points were the following:
1. Obama has been utterly silent about his opposition to the war since reaching the US Senate. His votes have not backed his rhetoric. "Because by the summer of 2004, Tim, Senator Obama said he wasn't sure how he would have voted. And when you asked him about that, he said, well, he didn't want to say something that could have hurt our nominees, Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards. Well, the fact is he's always said he doesn't take positions for political reasons. That is a political explanation. If he was against the war in 2002, he should've strongly spoke out in 2004. He should've followed what he said in his speech, which was that he would not vote for funding in '05, '06 and '07. That is inconsistent with what he is now running his campaign on. The story of his campaign is premised on that speech."
2. He really hasn't written any significant bills since his time as US Senator. He wrote an ethics bill to ban lunch with lobbyists, but only if "sitting down". The bill allows standing meals!?!?!?!
3. Her response to Russert when Russert pinned her down on Bill Clinton's recent comment about Obama "The whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've seen". She had a very smart retort about Obama comparing himself to JFK and MLK.
4. Her explanation of the "cry" she had in NH.
5. Her response to her current standings in polls across the country ("One thing we should have learned after NH is not to pay attention to the polls").
6. She pointed out that Obama voted "present" 130 times as state senator. She said, "When you're president, you can't vote present. You have to make a decision. Sometimes it's a split second decision."
7. Her answer to a question about the Monica affair.
You must watch the video of the interview. Here's the link:
1 comment:
I thought she hung pretty tough too. On a side note, I think Obama is better than trying to show that she's disrespecting the MLK legend. That spin is making his campaign look petty.
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