« Democratic Candidates on the Issues - Immigration | Main | Obama Speaks Up On Cuba »
Hillary vs. Barack in Iowa
By Bill | August 20, 2007 | Email This Post
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continued to take shots at each other during the recent Iowa debate, and the crazy thing is both are right.
Clinton chided Obama once again for his political naivete, particularly in the area of foreign policy. The charge is somewhat hard to defend against, for after all Barack has something less than one full term as Senator under his belt. His ideas may be good, but there will undoubtedly be awkwardness in execution from time to time. Still, realizing that it’s in his inexperience that a large part of his charm lies, he responded to the value of electing someone with greater foreign policy experience just so: “We’ve tried the other [presumably, Clinton’s] way. It didn’t work.”
Hillary Clinton is the front runner in many Democratic polls, but she’s clearly worried about Barack Obama. And she likely has reason to be, as this analysis of the most recent debate suggests. She continues to tout her experience, saying that of all the candidates she has the best chance to defeat the Republican propaganda machine. This is a somewhat curious assertion given other recent reports, but perhaps Hillary hopes to defuse the question by bringing it up herself rather than waiting for it to be imposed on her at a time of her opponent’s choosing.
While admitting that no one can come out of the political season with “high negatives,” Hillary says “I know how to beat them.” But that begs the question: does she? Over the last fifteen years, the percentage of the public with a poor opinion of her has risen from 30% to 49%. If she knew how to divest herself of such an image, wouldn’t she have done so by now?
Topics: Barack Obama, Democrats, Hillary Clinton |