Team Clinton, the day after the debate
Posted: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 2:58 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC's Mark Murray
After all of the various questions and candidate disagreements from last night's debate -- over NAFTA, health care, Iraq, Russia, Farrakhan -- the Clinton camp has seized on something the New York senator herself brought up: the lack of hearings at the subcommittee Obama took over in 2007.
"Last night, we saw a glimpse of the real Barack Obama – the Barack Obama who became chair of a national security subcommittee, put it on his resume, but did not hold a single oversight hearing because he was too busy running for president; the Barack Obama who spends his time talking about change you can believe in instead of change you actually can count on. Given the opportunity to take the reins of leadership and shape two critical areas of U.S. foreign policy -- Afghanistan and our alliances in Europe -- Senator Obama has done next to nothing."
Here is how Obama responded last night: "I became chairman of this committee at the beginning of this campaign, at the beginning of 2007. So, it is true that we haven't had oversight hearings on Afghanistan. I have been very clear in talking to the American people about what I would do with respect to Afghanistan. I think we have to have more troops there to bolster the NATO effort."
Below is the entire Clinton memo...
To: Interested Parties
From: The Clinton Campaign
RE: Talk v. Action
Date: February 27, 2007
Barack Obama has presented himself as a unique political figure who says what he means and does what he says.
Last night, we saw a glimpse of the real Barack Obama – the Barack Obama who became chair of a national security subcommittee, put it on his resume, but did not hold a single oversight hearing because he was too busy running for President; the Barack Obama who spends his time talking about change you can believe in instead of change you actually can count on.
Given the opportunity to take the reins of leadership and shape two critical areas of U.S. foreign policy -- Afghanistan and our alliances in Europe -- Senator Obama has done next to nothing.
As chairman of a key Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee, Senator Obama had an opportunity to assert his leadership and set an agenda for America to help address the war in Afghanistan and strengthen some of our most important alliances.
But by his own admission, he was too busy running for President to conduct a single substantive hearing of the committee he chairs. So he would rather talk about what he would do rather than do it through the responsibility he had.
Hillary Clinton doesn't just WANT the job of President. She wants TO DO the job or President.
How can we tell what Barack Obama would be like as president if he did not carry out his responsibility here?
