March 07, 2008
Clinton: Power Episode Raises "Disturbing Questions"
HATTIESBURG, MS - Hillary Clinton's campaign hit rival Barack Obama on two fronts today, saying he does not have a plan to end the war in Iraq and calling on a top aide to step aside after she referred to the New York senator as "a monster."
In both cases, the Obama campaign representative involved was now-former foreign policy aide Samantha Power.
Power tendered her resignation earlier today for the monster comment reported in a Scottish newspaper and apologized to both Clinton and Obama. When asked for a reaction Clinton said it was the right thing to do.
"I think Sen. Obama did the right thing, but I think it's important to look at what she and his other advisors say behind closed doors, particularly when they are talking to foreign governments and foreign press," she said during a media availability at a train depot here. "It raises disturbing questions about what the real planning and policy positions ... inside the Obama campaign happen to be."
The Obama campaign has said Power was an unpaid advisor and not part of the campaign staff and that she stepped down on her own.
Clinton did not address Power's specific comment. When asked how it was different from Communications Dir. Howard Wolfson's statement yesterday that Obama was imitating Ken Starr, she said "one is an adhomiem attack and one is a historical refererence."
Clinton also cited a BBC interview with Power in which she said Obama's plan for withdrawing troops from Iraq within 16 months, at a rate of one to two brigades a month, could change once he becomes president.
"Sen. Obama has made his speech opposing Iraq in 2002 and the war in Iraq the core of his campaign, which makes these comments especially troubling," Clinton said. "While Sen. Obama campaigns on his plan to end the war, his top advisors tell people abroad that he will not rely on his own plan should he become president. This is the latest example of promising the American people one thing on campaign trail and telling people in other countries another. We saw this with Nafta as well."
(NBC/NJ's ATHENA JONES)
More: "He's attacked me continuously for having no hard exit date, and now we learn that he doesn't have one, in fact he doesn't have a plan at all, according to his top foreign policy advisor. If he keeps telling people one thing while his campaign tells people abroad something else, I'm not sure what the American people should believe."
After her initial statement in Hattiesburg, Clinton went on to quote from the BBC interview in which the interviewer asks Power whether Obama's commitment to get forces out within 16 months is really a commitment.
Clinton quotes Power as saying: "You can't make a commitment in whatever month we're in now in March of 2008 about what circumstances will be like in January of 2009."
Clinton said she made a commitment to withdraw troops, based on the best military and intelligence advice she had, and when challenged about the likelihood her plan could be carried out as is, she stood by it.
"I'm committed to beginning a withdrawal within 60 days [of taking office]," she said. "I've said that consistently. I've also said that I thought we could take out one to two brigades a month. That's something I started saying before everyone else based on the military advice I received and I never have deviated from that."
Posted at 04:23 PM
Comments
Samantha Power has dedicated her life to fighting genocide
She is on the side of right - exactly the type of person you wish would be in government
She was an unpaid advisor to the campaign and took a leave of absence from teaching at Harvard
She is 38 years old, has already won a pulitzer prize and was in Europe promoting her brilliant new book on the UN diplomat who was killed in Bagdad a few years ago
--
Now why would we think we deserve someone like that in out government when we could have say --
Howard Wolfson? Mark Penn? Terry McAuliffe? and so many others
--
brought to you by the nation who re-elected George W Bush in 2004
hope dims--
alison | 03.07.08 05:40 PM
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"one is an adhomiem attack and one is a historical refererence."
okay, and which is which?
(reminds me of that old joke about the difference between a lawyer and a catfish)
miked98 | 03.07.08 08:00 PM
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Yeah whatever, do we really believe Clinton is committed to world peace and not to her lobbyists and corporate supporters? Let's see the tax returns-- then we'll decide who is the more honest candidate.
mt | 03.07.08 08:49 PM
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I used to believe in and support Obama but as this race progresses, I am seeing more and more that Obama is really like all the other mainstream politicians he denounces, and this recent example is no exception. I do not remember a single incident where even the dirty politics of Bush, Reagan, Gingrich, you-name-it, ever approached calling a rival candidate a "monster". This is beyond low and very disgraceful, especially in light of Obama's pledge of clean politics and "politics of hope". This seems like the mud-slinging, dirty politics of old.
Bucky | 03.08.08 05:02 AM
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Hillary is certainly living up to "monster" credentials. She's not sure that Obama is a Christian, she thinks that Obama says one thing domestically and another thing to foreigners. (Let's ask Bill to recap his trip to Kazakstan with his Clinton Library funder) This Ken Starr thing. Having a Republican House didn't help but the Clinton's don't think past the next sound bite.
It's all about her winning. All Obama has to do is remind Democrats that that the last time these two (Bill and Hillary) held power, the Democrats lost the House for the first time in 40 years. The Clintons don't care about governing and achieving, they only care about winning for themselves.
RiverRed | 03.08.08 08:47 AM
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