AP: Obama hints of sharper edge vs. Clinton

[cmaff05]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080109/ap_on_el_pr/primary_rdp

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama talked of introducing some Chicago smackdown to his politics of hope Wednesday, seeking a rebound after Hillary Rodham Clinton grasped victory in the New Hampshire primary. In the wide-open Republican contest, John McCain pressed to build on his New Hampshire win and named experience, knowledge and judgment as his calling cards in the races ahead.

Clinton pored over election strategy in the first blush of her surprising success and indicated she'd compete in every big Democratic contest coming up this month rather than try to cherry pick her way to the nomination.

"I'm going to keep going as we take on all the rest of the contests between now and February 5th," she said, back home in New York to "get grounded and take a deep breath" after a victory that surprised her own campaign, confounded the pollsters and shocked nearly everyone else. Two dozen states vote Feb. 5.

Obama responded not just to his Democratic rival's New Hampshire primary win but to attacks on him by her husband, former President Clinton

"I think that Senator Clinton, obviously, is a formidable and tough candidate, and we have to make sure that we take it to them just like they take it to us," the Illinois senator said. "I come from Chicago politics. We're accustomed to rough and tumble."

Obama is bidding for resurgence in South Carolina and Nevada, which vote this month. On Wednesday, he received the endorsement of the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union local in Nevada in addition to the backing of the state's chapter of the Service Employees International Union.

Bill Clinton complained in New Hampshire that Obama was getting a free pass from the scrutiny turned on Hillary Clinton and likened the Illinois senator's campaign to a "fairy tale." Obama shot back Wednesday that "the real fairy tale is, I think, Bill Clinton suggesting somehow that we've been just taking a cakewalk here."





Obama is going to try to beat Hillary at her own game. We'll see if it works.

[MadBadger]

1. You didnt include the best line of it all...him taking on Bill Clinton and his Bullshit

Bill Clinton complained in New Hampshire that Obama was getting a free pass from the scrutiny turned on Hillary Clinton and likened the Illinois senator's campaign to a "fairy tale." Obama shot back Wednesday that "the real fairy tale is, I think, Bill Clinton suggesting somehow that we've been just taking a cakewalk here."

[RummyTheDummy]

3. Never thought I'd say this but....

A big FUCK YOU to Bill for the Fair tale remark.

[Tarc]

15. truth hurts, eh?

It is kind of a shame that very little attention has been paid to the substance of Obama's political positions. Clinton and Edwards have been combed over pretty extensively while Obama has been granted a free pass (when he's not pulling homophobic bible-thumpers onto the bandwagon, that is).

It has indeed been a fairy tale run so far.

[RummyTheDummy]

16. We see what we want to see

[returnable]

35. Bill Clinton has told the only "fairy tale" of the campaign so far...

...you know, how once upon a time he opposed the Iraq invasion from the start.

Still waiting for Bill, or anyone, for that matter, to produce something in the public record to back that one up.

Truth hurts, eh?

[indimuse]

40. you mean..

Like Obama's multiple votes (when he did vote) for FUNDING THE WAR! Or...let's see Voting for the Patriot Act..when told voters he was against it....LIE...scuse me ..FAIRYTALE! want mo???:smoke:

[returnable]

43. Hmmmm... I noticed your post did not include any link...

...to Bill Clinton opposing the invasion from the beginning.

Why am I not surprised?

[jenmito]

47. Wrong. First of all, you don't remember everyone calling everything he said a "rookie mistake"?

Secondly, Obama sponsored the Iraq De-Escalation Act and only voted for the Patriot Act after certain revisions were made. And don't forget the fairy tale Bill told when he claimed he was against the war from the beginning. :eyes:

[cmaff05]

6. I just added it

:)

[MadBadger]

8. Thanks! Came across this article, and thought about posting it because of that line

Ive really come to despise Bill Clinton.

[Larkspur]

2. Hillary is using Bush's tactics. Obama has to find an answer to them

If he can't, then he would never defeat the Republicans.

[Cha]

20. Yeah, great

practice,eh?

[Adelante]

4. It's time

I'm glad to hear this.

[cmaff05]

11. It's the only way he'll beat Hillary

Sad to say, but it is true. He needs to play Hillary's own game and beat her at it.

[KennedyGuy]

5. yep..Obama about to go negative

sounds hopeful

[TwilightGardener]

7. Better than sniveling and weeping for effect, that's for sure.

[KennedyGuy]

10. there..there need a hanky?

[TwilightGardener]

19. Yes...

:cry:

[KennedyGuy]

22. thats Ok...I'm sure there's some ironing that needs to be done.

:nopity:

[TwilightGardener]

38. Hillary should get on that, and leave us alone, forever.

[KennedyGuy]

39. OOOOObama hope...

keep em coming...
would that be Obama hope..or Obama mope?

[Cha]

23. And a hillary surrogate is

complaining but ya didn't complain about hillary spreading smears so you have no cred.

[Little Star]

36. Shhhhh...H will certainly win. Please someone buy him a clue.

[Imagevision]

9. Obama the candidate of change better become involved with paper trail voting machines or

he'll never get his foot in the door.

[Cha]

25. Excellent!

There's so many ways to trip up a good candidate and so many ways to aid and abet a stealth traitor.



http://www.moveon.org/

[killbotfactory]

12. He pulled his punches in NH, over the weekend

He didn't really do that in Iowa.

[Renew Deal]

13. His loss might be the best thing that ever happened to him.

I think it's possible. It should make him better. His speech last night was special.

[sunonmars]

18. That speech

I usually like speeches but that one fell flat and bored me senseless.

[Renew Deal]

32. I'm not talking about Edwards.

:shrug:

[Adelante]

34. Haha

:rofl:

[indimuse]

45. you mean..

That Southern Baptist Rev thing he does....yes we can...blah blah blah...yes we can...yes we can...blah blah blah...yes we can. I could have sworn I was in church... Don't need a preacher for a PREZ....NOT!

[Cha]

26. That's what I kept

holding on to last night. That he could really learn from this!

"His loss might be the best thing that ever happened to him."

[Renew Deal]

33. Did you hear the issues he hit during the speech?

End the war, prescription drugs, taxes, and much more. This has been missing. It's here now.

[Cha]

41. Thanks! I haven't heard

the speech yet..I was over at my friends house today and they haven't made up their minds yet on our candidate but they know I'm for Obama now. I told them I wasn't trying to change anyone's minds when I talk about him..it's just who I want. Jeff thinks Obama doesn't say much in his speeches except about "hope and change" and I said just go to his website and it's full of his stances on implementing changes to deal with resversing climate change, habeus corpus, economy, education, ect..

But, when I get a copy of his speech in NH I will send it to them.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

[Renew Deal]

44. Here it is.

Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=l3imf9Mvvdg

Transcript:

January 8, 2008
Obama: 'Yes We Can!'
Here's the transcript of Barack Obama's "concession" speech, as prepared for delivery.

I write it that way - with the quotation marks - because it was unusually inspiring for a candidate who had just lost by a small percentage when he was widely predicted to win by a landslide - particularly when compared to Hillary Clinton's rather lackluster victory speech.

You can read the speech in full after the jump:

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama

New Hampshire Primary

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

Nashua, NH



I want to congratulate Senator Clinton on a hard-fought victory here in New Hampshire.


A few weeks ago, no one imagined that we’d have accomplished what we did here tonight. For most of this campaign, we were far behind, and we always knew our climb would be steep.


But in record numbers, you came out and spoke up for change. And with your voices and your votes, you made it clear that at this moment – in this election – there is something happening in America.


There is something happening when men and women in Des Moines and Davenport; in Lebanon and Concord come out in the snows of January to wait in lines that stretch block after block because they believe in what this country can be.


There is something happening when Americans who are young in age and in spirit – who have never before participated in politics – turn out in numbers we’ve never seen because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.


There is something happening when people vote not just for the party they belong to but the hopes they hold in common – that whether we are rich or poor; black or white; Latino or Asian; whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That is what’s happening in America right now. Change is what’s happening in America.


You can be the new majority who can lead this nation out of a long political darkness – Democrats, Independents and Republicans who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded Washington; who know that we can disagree without being disagreeable; who understand that if we mobilize our voices to challenge the money and influence that’s stood in our way and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there’s no problem we can’t solve – no destiny we cannot fulfill.


Our new American majority can end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable health care in our time. We can bring doctors and patients; workers and businesses, Democrats and Republicans together; and we can tell the drug and insurance industry that while they’ll get a seat at the table, they don’t get to buy every chair. Not this time. Not now.


Our new majority can end the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of the working Americans who deserve it.


We can stop sending our children to schools with corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success. We can stop talking about how great teachers are and start rewarding them for their greatness. We can do this with our new majority.


We can harness the ingenuity of farmers and scientists; citizens and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil and save our planet from a point of no return.


And when I am President, we will end this war in Iraq and bring our troops home; we will finish the job against al Qaeda in Afghanistan; we will care for our veterans; we will restore our moral standing in the world; and we will never use 9/11 as a way to scare up votes, because it is not a tactic to win an election, it is a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century: terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.


All of the candidates in this race share these goals. All have good ideas. And all are patriots who serve this country honorably.


But the reason our campaign has always been different is because it’s not just about what I will do as President, it’s also about what you, the people who love this country, can do to change it.


That’s why tonight belongs to you. It belongs to the organizers and the volunteers and the staff who believed in our improbable journey and rallied so many others to join.


We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.


We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.


But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we’ve been told that we’re not ready, or that we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.


Yes we can.


It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.


Yes we can.


It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.


Yes we can.


It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.


Yes we can.


It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.


Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can.


And so tomorrow, as we take this campaign South and West; as we learn that the struggles of the textile worker in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas; that the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America’s story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea – Yes. We. Can.



http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2008/01/obama-yes-we-can.html

[Cha]

49. WOW...I get so

emotional when I read something like this..but, that's a good thing. It shows I've been paying attention the last 8 years and I can smell a 180 degrees coming around the bend!

Thanks, Bleachers, so much. I'll look at Obama giving his speech now and I'll make a copy of the transcript..I cannot wait to give it to Pat and Jeff!

I'm still reeling :wow:

I have to add that someone was complaining last night that Obama brought up the "false hope" in his speech and I told them that it was quite all right that he did that after all the @#$$%%^^&(* crap the clintons have whinged about and thrown out to see what sticks.:)

[suston96]

14. This is way too funny.....

The sex and race sensitivities between the two candidates will be historical, if not hysterical to watch.

[sunonmars]

17. Except it will backfire

Obama going negative after taking the high road would spectacularly backfire, thats why its always a bad idea to take that high road route in a political campaign because you come off looking hypocritical. He just can't do that. He's run a campaign on being "new", if he starts attacking, he may as just write hypocrite on his forehead.

Its like the Britney going from virginal schoolgirl to the mad slut routine, just comes off as crass and hypocritical.

What will happen is first time he does go very negative, Hillary just needs to say, so much for the hope and he's be caught out. Its a stupid position he's put himself in, its hard to attack and look sanctimonious at the same time.

[magatte]

21. It will take a lot before it getting to match the Clinton machine

Negative abortion mailers, lies by Bill Clinton on Obama's comments during the 2004 Convention....

The Obama campaign has just said that they will be firm and blunt against any other such attacks

[Cha]

27. Nah, telling the truth

about the clintons might be construed as going negative but actually Obama is just helping out the voters.

[jlake]

24. Good luck with that. The only thing Obama has going for him is his

rhetoric.....and when he goes on the attack it becomes very clear very quick that it is BS.

[RummyTheDummy]

29. As opposed to Hillary who is full of shit all the time

[jlake]

31. Hillary is as pure as snow compared to Obama.

[RummyTheDummy]

37. Yeah, keep telling yourself that

[jlake]

50. Since all evidence points that way, I will. Thanks for the approval.

[Cha]

42. "Driven snow" yeah it's been

driven into the mud.

[jlake]

51. eeeek

[indimuse]

46. some people know all about snow...

don't they?:evilgrin::evilgrin::evilgrin:

[BigDDem]

woops, double

[BigDDem]

28. McClurkin probably put him up to it...

she's got her panties in a wad after last nights defeat.

[Cha]

30. Your post makes no

sense.

[Faygo Kid]

48. Hillary will just cry and go up another 8 points

After all, it's tough out there, and some of us are ready, and some of us are not. *sniff*

Hach-tooie.

[Beausoir]

52. Bring it.

Just...bring it on. We'll see how far it gets him and his supporters.