PHILADELPHIA–White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday faces probable attacks on her from Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and other rivals and Republicans over the release of her First Lady papers in the Clinton Library.
Clinton’s refusal to say whether or not she supported New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposal to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrant will also have legs not as much on the substance–Obama and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) back the licenses–as on the waffle.
The Clinton campaign is featuring this video clip from Tuesday’s debate. LINK “Well, I don’t think the Republicans got the message that I’m voting and sounding like them….”
The Obama team is touting the video clip where Obama is hitting Clinton on lack of transparency on her papers–and her stealing his “turn the page” line. LINK ” I’m glad Hillary took the phrase “turn the page.” it’s a good one — but this is an example of not turning the page.”
CLINTON: Well, I don’t think the Republicans got the message
that I’m voting and sounding like them.
If you watched their debate last week, I seemed to be the topic
of great conversation and consternation. And that’s for a reason —
because I have stood against George Bush and his failed policies.
They want to continue the war in Iraq; I want to end it. The
Republicans are waving their sabers and talking about going after
Iran. I want to prevent a rush to war.
On every issue from health care for children to an energy policy
that puts us on the right track to deal with climate change and make
us more secure, I have been standing against the Republicans, George
Bush and Dick Cheney, and I will continue to do so. And I think
Democrats know that.
OBAMA
VIDEO: Turn the Page — Obama on Transparency and Change
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP4bKiYrI7w
Obama: I’m glad Hillary took the phrase “turn the page.” it’s a good one — but this is an example of not turning the page. We have just gone through one of the most secretive administrations in our history. And not releasing, I think, these records, at the same time, Hillary, as you are making the claim this is the basis for your experience, I think is a problem. Part of what we have to do is invite the American people back to participate in their government again. Part of what we need to do is rebuild trust in our government again. And that means being open and transparent and accountable to the American people. And that’s one of the hallmarks of my previous work in the state legislature, in the united states senate, making sure that Americans know where our money is going, what earmarks are out there, what kinds of pork barrel spending is being done, who is bundling money for who. And that I think, is part of the job of the next president is making Americans believe that our government is working for them. Because right now they don’t feel like it’s working for them. They feel like it’s working for special interest and it’s working for corporations.
One last point I want to make, part of the reason that Republicans, I think, are obsessed with you, Hillary, because that’s a fight they are very comfortable having. it is the fight that we have been through since the 1990s. Part of the job of the next president is to break the gridlock and to get democrats and independence and republicans to start working the together to solve these big problems like health care, and climate change and energy. And what we don’t need is another eight years of bickering. And that’s precisely why I’m running for president because one of the things I have been able to do, throughout my political career, is to bring people together to get things done.
