Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton signaled Wednesday that she will go after Sen. Barack Obama’s relative lack of experience in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
“I’m looking forward to a spirited and substantive debate about issues, about goals, about aspirations, about experience,” said Clinton,
D-N.Y., when asked about Obama on CBS. “About the kinds of things that voters will be interested in.”
By bringing up the issue of experience as something she would like to debate with Obama, Clinton was highlighting the fact that the Illinois Democrat has been in the Senate for only two years. By contrast, Clinton has spent six years in the Senate and another eight in the national spotlight as the first lady.
Still, Clinton was in reactive mode Wednesday after Obama’s surprise announcement Tuesday that he was forming a presidential exploratory committee. Minutes after the Obama news broke, Clinton, who has not officially declared her own candidacy, canceled a news conference, although her aides insisted the move was unrelated to Obama’s domination of the news cycle.
Clinton’s news conference was rescheduled for Wednesday afternoon, but she decided not to wait that long to begin making headlines of her own. So she appeared on the morning TV shows, hoping to talk about her recent trip to Iraq.
Instead, she found herself fielding questions about Obama.
“Before we get to Iraq,” said “Early Show” host Harry Smith on CBS, “your reaction to Barack Obama throwing his hat in the ring yesterday?”
Hillary Clinton announces her bid for President in a video posted on her website.
Over at NBC’s “Today” show, Matt Lauer tried to get Clinton to be more explicit in criticizing Obama’s lack of experience.
“He’s been in the Senate for two years,” Lauer said. “Is he completely qualified to be commander in chief, in your opinion?”
“We’re going to have a really vigorous debate,” Clinton replied. “And the voters will make these decisions.”
When she emphasized that “we don’t even know who all’s going to be in” the presidential race, Lauer shot back: “When are you going to get off the sidelines?”
On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Clinton was one of 16 female senators interviewed by Diane Sawyer, who began the session by asking for reactions to Obama’s candidacy.
“Well, he’s a talented individual,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “We’re so glad to have him in our caucus. And he’s a voice, I think, that is bringing a lot of fresh ideas.”
Cantwell, who was sitting next to Clinton, hastened to add: “We have a woman who might be in the White House.”
Clinton, when asked to say something about Obama, quipped: “I would agree with what Maria said.”
