NY Times:Clinton vs. Obama, Take 2 in Iowa

Clinton vs. Obama, Take 2 in Iowa
By PATRICK HEALY
Updated SHENANDOAH, Iowa — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton just sharpened her new attack on whether Senator Barack Obama is experienced enough to be president, questioning his recent statement that living overseas as a child contributed to his experience level.

Senator Clinton made the remarks to a campaign audience here after a new Washington Post/ABC News poll showed a statistical tie between the two rivals here in Iowa, with Mr. Obama at 30 percent and Mrs. Clinton at 26 percent among likely Democratic caucus-goers. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points. A third candidate, John Edwards, was at with 22 percent.

Here was the Clinton wind-up: “I have traveled the world on behalf of our country - first in the White House with my husband and now as a aenator. I’ve met with countless world leaders and know many of them personally. I went to Beijing in 1995 and stood up to the Chinese government on human rights and women’s rights. I have fought for our men and women in uniform to make sure they have the equipment they need in battle and are treated with dignity when they return home.

“I believe I have the right kind of experience to be the next president. With a war and a tough economy, we need a president ready on Day One to bring our troops home from Iraq and to handle all of our other tough challenges.”

And here was the pitch: “Now voters will judge whether living in a foreign country at the age of 10 prepares one to face the big, complex international challenges the next president will face. I think we need a president with more experience than that. Someone the rest of the world knows, looks up to, and has confidence in. I don’t think this is the time for on-the-job training on our economy or on foreign policy.

“I offer my credentials, my experience, and qualifications which I think uniquely equip me to be prepared to hit the ground running on Day One. And I offer the experience of being battle-tested in the political wars here at home. For 15 years, I have been the object of the Republican attack machine and I’m still here.”

Updated: 3:35 p.m. Bill Burton, campaign spokesman for Senator Obama had this to say: “Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld have spent time in the White House and travelled to many countries as well, but along with Hillary Clinton, they led us into the worst foreign policy disaster in a generation and are now giving George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran. The real choice in this election is between conventional Washington thinking that prizes posture and positioning, or real change that puts judgment and honesty first.”

On Monday, Mr. Obama cited his personal background and his four years living in Indonesia as a child as contributing to his experience and knowledge on foreign affairs.

“I spent four years living overseas when I was a child living in Southeast Asia,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “If you don’t understand these cultures then it’s very hard for you to make good
foreign policy decisions. Foreign policy is all about judgment.”

He also said, according to the AFP, “a lot of my knowledge about foreign affairs isn’t just what I studied in school — I studied international relations when I was in college — it’s not just the work I do on the Senate foreign relations committee. It’s actually having the knowledge of how ordinary people in these other countries live.”

Mr. Obama has cited many factors contributing to his experience and judgment on foreign affairs and national security, from his work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to his years studying and observing issues as an Illinois state senator. He has cited his early opposition to the Iraq war as a sign that he has better judgment on national security than Senator Clinton, given her vote in favor of military action in Iraq. Mr. Obama has also written two books that have drawn on his trips and experiences overseas, including in Africa, where his father was born and lived for many years.

Mrs. Clinton began anew trying to undercut Mr. Obama’s experience during a campaign swing on Monday, saying that Americans should choose a candidate for president who did not need “on the job training.” Mr. Obama was elected to the Senate in 2004; Mrs. Clinton was elected in 2000 after eight years as First Lady. One Clinton adviser said this morning that Mrs. Clinton decided to make the new offensive against Mr. Obama after facing weeks of criticism from him and another rival, former Senator John Edwards; the three of them are locked in a very tight race in Iowa.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/clinton-vs-obama-take-2-in-iowa/