Obama responds to Clinton charges
Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 4:12 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
2008, Obama
From NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan and NBC’s Ben Weltman and Domenico Montanaro
COLUMBUS, Miss. -- In a fiery speech, Obama pushed back hard against charges by Hillary Clinton and her campaign that he is not suited to be Commander-In-Chief, and expressed disbelief at the Clintons’ suggestions that he be vice president.
“Now first of all, with all due respect, with all due respect,” Obama began, “I have won twice as many states as Sen. Clinton. I have won more of the popular vote than Senator Clinton. I have more delegates than Senator Clinton. So I don't know how somebody who is in second place, is offering the vice presidency to the person who is in first place.
“I mean, I am just wondering, because if I was in second place I could understand it. But I am in first place right now. So that's point number one.”
He went on to point out how Clinton could consider him as his VP when she and the campaign have been saying that he is not ready to be Commander-In-Chief.
“But there's a second point,” he said. “This is an interesting point. I want you guys to follow me on this. President Bill Clinton, back in 1992 when he was being asked about his selection for Vice President, he said that the only criteria, the most important criteria for a Vice President, is that that person is ready, if I fell out, in the first week, that he or she will be ready to be the Commander-In-Chief.
“That was his criteria. Now they have been spending the last two, three weeks, you remember with that advertisement with the phone call, getting all the Generals to say, ‘Well, he is not ready. I am ready on Day One; he may not be ready yet.’ But I don't understand, if I am not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great Vice President.”
He added to loud cheers, "I'm not running for vice president… I'm running for president of the United States of America. I'm running to be Commander-in-Chief.”
He warned that voters would have to make a "choice," between himself and Clinton that had dominated the news over the weekend.
"So I don't want to anybody here thinking that I, somehow well I can get both,” Obama said. “Don't think that way. You have to make a choice in this election. Are you going to go along with the past or are you going to go towards the future?"
Over the weekend both Sen. Clinton and President Clinton suggested they would be open to having Obama be a vice presidential pick if Clinton secured the nomination. President Clinton in Mississippi said a joint ticket would be "unstoppable."
Obama warned to not be fooled, that the Clintons were trying to "hoodwink" and "bamboozle" Democrats into thinking they wouldn't have to make a choice between the two.
Obama accused Clinton of "gamesmanship" in talking about him as a possible vice president.
"That's exactly the kind of doublespeak, doubletalk that Washington is very good at,” he added, “that people who spend a lot of time in Washington have a lot of experience but is not going to solve the problems of the country.”
To underscore his point, Obama told the crowd that both Clinton and McCain went along with conventional Washington thinking and that Clinton had "gone along" with President Bush on his foreign policy decisions.
The crowd ate it up, booing Clinton loudly and jumping to their feet to cheer Obama as he adamantly declared that he was running for president, not vice president. Obama is expected to win Mississippi's primary tomorrow. He will hold a rally in Jackson later this evening.
