WP, pg1: As Crucial Tests Loom, Clinton Hits Harder; Says Obama Isn't Ready to Be President

[DeepModem Mom]

As Crucial Tests Loom, Clinton Hits Harder
She Says Obama Isn't Ready to Be President
By Anne E. Kornblut and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 21, 2008; Page A01

NEW YORK, Feb. 20 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a tough new offensive against Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday, asserting flatly that her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination is not prepared to serve as commander in chief. "It is time to get real -- to get real about how we actually win this election, and get real about the challenges facing America," the senator from New York told a cheering crowd at Hunter College in Manhattan.

Resounding Obama victories on Tuesday in Wisconsin and Hawaii pushed the senator from Illinois further ahead in the delegate count and have turned the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4 into do-or-die battles for Clinton. After 10 straight defeats, she now trails Obama in overall delegates 1,351 to 1,262, according to an Associated Press tally, and faces a dwindling number of opportunities to slow her rival's pursuit of the 2,025 delegates needed to claim the party's nomination. The first chance will come Thursday night in Austin, where the two will debate.

Clinton's 17-percentage-point loss in Wisconsin was especially crushing, a sign that her criticisms of Obama -- which were most intense during the Badger State showdown -- did little to sway voters to her camp.

But instead of shifting course, Clinton redoubled her attempt to undermine his change-oriented message. "One of us is ready to be commander in chief," she told the crowd in New York. "Let's get real. Let's get real about this election, let's get real about our future, let's get real about what it is we can do together." Obama has had a "good couple of weeks," she allowed, but said his victories had come in states that he was expected to win. Clinton predicted that when voters in Ohio and Texas have the opportunity to take his measure, his run of success will end....

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, senior Clinton advisers vowed to press Obama on his readiness for the White House, arguing that the only reason that message has not been successful so far is that Obama was able to outspend Clinton in the recent string of contests. Now, chief strategist Mark Penn said, Clinton will draw distinctions with Obama more sharply....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/20/ST2008022002981.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. That's nice.

[madrchsod]

2. be very afraid...be very afraid

barack will not protect us from the unknown...


sorry hillary, i`m not afraid of the unknown

[lapfog_1]

3. Hillary, let's get real about your chances to win this nomination. - n/t

[Avalux]

4. Let's get real! Take your own advice Hillary.

From this article, she's still listening to Penn and will go way negative during the debate tonight. It's a mistake.

[islandmkl]

5. Obama has had a "good couple of weeks," she allowed...

kind of like the Giants had a good couple of last minutes in the Super Bowl!!

[liberalnurse]

6. Obama would be a miserable soul if he accidently

became President. Way, way out of his scope of experience. America and Democrats would suffer thought his long, on the job training.

[Submariner]

7. As the first Black president EVER in the United States of America

I do not feel there is a remote chance he will conduct himself in a fashion that would bring scandal or disgrace to his family or the presidency (unlike the current occupant), and I further believe that he will surround himself with very competent staff and cabinet officials, and in the end he will be very good for the nation.

He may not know his way around the White House as well as Hillary, and he won't know the lobby connections without some external help, but he has what it takes to manage problems.

I also like the idea of a president having pillow-talk time with an intelligent first lady (unlike the current one), and not a prez who sleeps alone because her husband is gallivanting around the planet playing with the girls.

[snappyturtle]

8. This is what bothers me with tactics like this:

Why doesn't Senator Clinton spend her time convincing voters she's the real deal by talking about her policies, etc.
Instead, she's on the attack and all we "learn" is why the opponent is unworthy which in turn snowballs into Sen. Obama spending to much of his time on defense rather than the specifics that supposedly he doesn't have.